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SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 


BOOKS BT 

COMMANDER THOMAS D. PARKER 

(17. S. N., Retired) 


YOUNG HEROES OF THE AMERICAN NAVY. 
Being Stories and Adventures of the Most Noted 
Young Heroes of Our Navy. 286 pages. 

THE CRUISE OF THE DEEP SEA SCOUTS. 
Or, Boy Scouts Afloat. 287 pages. 

THE SPY ON THE SUBMARINE. Or, Over and 
Under the Sea. 298 pages. 

THE AIR RAIDER. Winning the Gold and Silver 
Chevron. 291 pages. 

SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS. A Story 
of the Navigator of the “ Greenville.” 286 pages. 


Mr. Parker’s stories are based on his intimate knowl- 
edge of naval affairs. The experiences which his char- 
acters go through will show to every reader of his books 
just what is happening or may happen within the gates of 
any of our Navy Yards, or on the high seas on board 
one of our great battleships. They are true pictures of 
naval life afloat and ashore. 





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Sailing Under Sealed 
Orders 

A STOR Y OF THE NA VI G A TOR 
OF THE ** GREENVILLE 


COMMANDER THOMAS Dn»ARKER 

(a S. N., Jietired) '* 

ILLUSTRATED BT 

FRANK T. MERRILL 



W. A. WILDE COMPANY 

BOSTON CHICAGO 




Copyright, ig2l. 

By W. a. Wilde Company 

All rights reserved 
Sailing Under Sealed Orders 
21 


MAR 24 1922 


g)0!,A661OGO 


Inscribed 

to 

MONSIEUR LEOPOLD KETTEN 

Chevalier of the Legion of Honor 
Chief Professor of 

Singing at the Conservatory of Geneva. 

A Consummate Musician^ 

An Inspiring Teacher, and 
A Brave Man 





Foreword 


A N old admiral with a weather-beaten face 
^ ^ and a quizzical look about the mouth and 
eyes was resting before the fire in his den. He 
was sitting in a chair the Chinese Government 
had given him; under foot was a tiger skin 
bought in the Persian Gulf; overhead was a 
painting of Barney’s victoiy with the Hyder 
Alii over the British ‘‘ General Monk ” ; to the 
right, the odd, bony weapon of a sawfish; to 
the left, crossed bolos and krisses from the 
Philippines. About the walls were many 
photographs — officers in full dress, with 
cocked hats and epaulettes; a group of Span- 
ish girls; the faded, old-fashioned picture of 
forty smiling youths on the grass under the 
trees of the old Naval Academy, in double- 
breasted jackets with black ties and rakish 
caps — and among these a happy-go-lucky 
youngster vaguely resembling the Admiral. 

5 


6 


FOEEWOED 


His grandson — whom we shall know as 
Wizard Graves — came in and threw himself 
on the sofa. 

“ Granddad!” he exclaimed, “ I’ve passed! 
I’m through with school ! ” 

The Admiral studied him. He was fond of 
his grandson. 

“ Well! ” he replied, with a smile in his eyes, 
“ what are you going to do next? ” 

“ Haven’t decided, sir. Think it’ll be 
Navy.” 

The boy’s eager eyes were fixed on the 
painting. 

Through the Admiral’s mind fiashed a 
whole series of pictures. He saw a boy taking 
leave of two sad-faced old people and walking 
in the moonlight to catch the 12:15 for the 
East and Annapolis; a “plebe” standing on 
his head, surrounded by grinning upper class- 
men; a fight, with referee and seconds, inter- 
rupted by the arrival of an officer; a first class- 
man marching his company to the Parade 


FOEEWOED 


7 


ground in June week; a promenade concert 
under trees strung with Japanese lanterns; a 
girl in a white dress, a kiss, and a promise; an 
ensign, ordered to San Francisco, trying to 
find the price of a railway ticket; the old Con- 
stitution under all plain sail taken aback in a 
squall; a smiling lieutenant on the deck of a 
torpedo boat — and a Spanish shell exploding 
twenty feet away; a bride and bridegroom 
passing from the altar under crossed swords; 
a telegram and a sudden parting; a night on 
deck in the tropics, moonbeams on the water, 
officers in white singing, a light flashing on a 
dark hilltop astern; a machine gun spitting at 
Chinese “ Boxers,” with wounded men all 
around ; a fleet of battleships steaming silently 
at night past the rock of Gibraltar; a game of 
tennis with a king; a young captain taking his 
first command — an old admiral hauling down 
his flag. 

“ All right, my boy! ” he answered; “ make 
it Navy! ” 



Contents 


I. 

The Radio Message . 

. 



II 

II. 

A Circle Round the Moon 



24 

III. 

Not A Total Loss 




32 

IV. 

The Chinese Junk 




48 

V. 

Unwelcome Recruits 




61 

VI. 

A Dangerous Docking 




78 

VII. 

Behind the Fog 




91 

VIII. 

The Dancing Compass 




100 

IX. 

The Cabin Dance 




107 

X. 

The Vanishing Intruder 




118 

XI. 

A Race for Peace 




129 

XII. 

Solitary Confinement 




139 

XIIL 

Barstow Takes a Chance 




151 

XIV. 

Steering into Danger 




162 

XV. 

Graves Makes a Friend 




172 

XVI. 

The Secret Passage . 




179 

XVII. 

A Desperate Plight 




193 

XVIII. 

A Live Torpedo 




215 

XIX. 

The Captives 




227 

XX. 

Turning the Tables . 




239 

XXL 

A Surprise Party 




252 

XXII. 

Kellam’s Past . 




267 

XXIII. 

Rewards . 




278 


9 



Sailing Under Sealed Orders 


CHAPTER I 


THE RADIO MESSAGE 



LONG column of armored cruisers was 


^ heading westward across the Pacific for 
Honolulu. The long, narrow ships cut rap- 
idly through the waves, which slapped against 
the bows and splashed aft with great undula- 
tions. Thick, oily smoke, driven southward 
by a fresh breeze, was pouring from the fun- 
nels; from the yard-arm of the leading ship a 
four-flag signal was flying. 

On the bridge of the second ship, near the 
helmsman and the quartermaster, stood two 
young American officers. One was bending 


11 


12 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 


over a chart and held in his hand a pair of par- 
allel rulers. The other held a stadimetre — 
an arrangement of mirrors on a metal frame- 
work used for measuring distances between 
ships. He was constantly putting it to his 
eye and reading off the distances. 

“ Now see here, Jack,” asked the first, a 
quizzical-looking chap with a pleasant face, 
“ are you sure you got that message straight? 
Was it 'Increase speed to seventeen knots at 
one o'clock^ or 'Be ready to increase at 
one ” 

Kellam put the stadimetre to his eye and 
again measured the distance from the flagship. 
He had a bullet head and an intense, unsmil- 
ing face — an intelligent fellow, one would say, 
and forceful — but a good hater. 

‘‘ Five hundred yards,” he murmured; “ our 
distance is just right.” He lowered the in- 
strument and turned his eyes on Graves, the 
navigator. Kellam’s small gray-blue eyes 
suggested the ocean on a cloudy day — you 


THE EADIO MESSAGE 


13 


could see the surface but nothing below. 

Sure, Graves, it was just what I said. The 
radio message said 'Increase speed' not 'Be 
ready to increase' " 

Graves nodded in his lazily good-humored 
way. 

When ships are steaming in squadron it is 
absolutely necessary to make any changes of 
speed together. Your ship seems to be always 
trying to crawl up on the ship ahead or to drop 
back on the ship astern. An error of one revo- 
lution a minute will make trouble; and once a 
ship starts closing in it is like curbing a run- 
away horse to keep it from crowding the next 
in line. 

“ All right,” assented Graves, laughing. 
“ You are right as usual. Jack. ITl take 
charge here while you make sailors of those 
rookies in your division.” 

Kellam had to train his division as well as 
stand watch on the bridge. When these duties 
interfered. Graves relieved him as officer of 


14 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

the deck, though the navigator’s regular duty 
was to find out the ship’s position and check 
the courses laid on the flagship. 

The order by radio about a change of speed 
had nothing to do with the flag signal flying 
at that moment. The signal directed the ships 
in column to close to three hundred yards dis- 
tance — which was close enough even for a 
young admiral who liked to practise manoeu- 
vres under way. 

The signal was hauled down — which means 
Carry out the order ! " — and Graves in- 
stantly rang for more speed. 

When the ship steadied at the new distance, 
the Greenville was so close-to that she seemed 
to be trying to ram the flagship. And five 
minutes later the squadron ran into a wander- 
ing fog bank. 

It was now a ticklish business keeping dis- 
tance from a ship Graves knews to be near but 
could not see. Any error in judgment might 
mean a collision; and he strained his eyes for 


THE EADIO MESSAGE 16 

the small buoy that ships in column trail in a 
fog. 

Graves looked at his watch. It was three 
minutes to one. Strange that the order to 
change speed from twelve knots to seventeen 
knots had been given so far ahead and without 
a “ signal of execution ” at the moment. But 
the message had come to Kellam, and Kellam 
had turned it over to him: ''Increase speed to 
seventeen knots at one o'clock/^ 

Two bells struck, and Graves rang for full 
speed. As the Greenville jumped ahead, the 
bridge shook from the vibrations of her en- 
gines. The wind whistled aft, blowing mist 
and spray into the navigator’s face. 

“ Let us hope the flagship’s doing the same 
thing,” muttered Graves; “if not we are 
banging ahead five knots faster than she is! ” 
The words were hardly spoken when he saw 
dead ahead, not fifty yards away, the stern of 
the other ship ! His heart gave a big jump. 
Leaping to the annunciator, he rang 


16 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDERS 


“ stop ” and “ back ” — but it takes time to 
make changes in the engine-room, and the or- 
der came too late. Though Graves ordered 
the helm hard over, the Greenville had just 
begun to turn aside, when, with a buckling 
and crunching of metal plates, her brow 
grazed the stern of the flagship. 

As the Greenville answered her helm and 
the cruisers fell apart, the sirens shrieked a 
warning on both ships. Water-tight doors 
w;ere closed, and men rushed with collision 
mats to stop the inflow of water at the dam- 
aged plates. Commander Latch, the execu- 
tive officer, came running on deck and directed 
the work of hauling the mat in place. The 
Captain, with his luncheon napkin still in his 
hand, reached the top of the bridge ladder, 
flushed and panting. The semaphore on the 
flagship, dimly visible through the fog, was 
waving its arms and demanding the reason of 
the ramming and the name of the officer of the 
deck. 


THE RADIO MESSAGE 


17 


By this time the Greenville had fallen out 
of the formation and was almost dead in the 
water. She did not seem to be settling by the 
head. 

“Are we making much water, Latch?” 
shouted Captain Barstow in a cracked and 
husky voice. 

“ Very little, Captain,” replied Latch 
coolly. “ Two or three plates are dented but 
we can easily control the water. We didn’t 
get the flagship either,” he added, glancing at 
Graves. The flagship was still steaming 
ahead, and was signaling to the Greenville to 
retake her place in column — for the fog that 
had caused the trouble was blowing rapidly 
away. 

Any collision at sea is a serious matter; no 
one knows what will happen when two ten 
thousand ton masses pushed by the power of 
ten thousand horses come together even for an 
instant. Graves had been calm throughout, 
but he realized the danger — and he knew that 


18 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

he would be blamed, perhaps court-martialed. 
Now that the danger seemed over, Captain 
Barstow was shaking with nervousness. He 
did not lack courage, but had grown old before 
his time. The thought of what the Admiral 
would say terrified him more than the thought 
of drowning. He would be sent for, he would 
be censured; for the Captain is held responsi- 
ble for everything on his ship. If the doctor 
gives the wrong medicine or the chaplain 
preaches a poor sermon it is the Captain’s 
fault, too. This is the law of the sea. 

Graves told all he knew, and waited for 
Captain Barstow’s outburst of indignation. 
But, to his surprise, the Captain merely 
lighted a cigarette and said in a voice that was 
not unkind: 

“We all make mistakes of judgment, espe- 
cially in a fog. Say no more about it just 
now. Send me in your written statement — 
and we’ll see what the Admiral has to say.” 
His face jerked spasmodically. 


THE EADIO MESSAGE 


19 


Kellam came back to take the watch again 
without a word of comment on what had hap- 
pened. 

“ J ack,” said Graves, “ the flagship herself 
didn’t change speed at two bells. Are you 
sure about the wording of that radio mes- 
sage? ” 

Kellam’s face was rigid as ever; his eyes 
seemed opaque. 

“ The message I turned over is the message 
I got,” he replied somewhat testily. “ Send 
down to the radio office for a copy and you can 
see for yourself.” The lines about his nose 
and mouth were hard; his lips were firmly 
pressed together. 

In a few minutes the messenger returned 
with a copy of the message on a radio blank 
and handed it to the navigator. 

“ Increase speed at one o’clock to seventeen 
knots on signal of execution from F! ” read 
Graves, raising his voice as he read. “ Why, 
Kellam, see that! Speed wasn’t to be changed 


20 SAILING UNDEK SEALED OEDEES 

till they made another signal! The message 
ends, ‘ on signal of execution from F ! ’ ” 

“ Of course! ” replied Kellam. “ That’s 
just what I said.” 

Graves looked at him in amazement. Kel- 
lam seldom made mistakes. 

“All you said was, ‘ Increase to seventeen 
knots at one o’clock.’ Don’t you remember, 
Kellam?” 

“ ‘ On signal of execution from flagship/ 
The wind must have kept you from hearing. 
Graves. Of course I’m sorry, but there’s no 
doubt I said it. You should have known it 
wasn’t right as you got it. If it seemed funny 
you could have sent to the office and read it 
just as it came.” 

This was true. It was queer he hadn’t 
thought of doing that. “ What a lobster I 
was not to,” Graves said to himself. “ Still,” 
he added aloud, “ I asked you if it didn’t say, 
^ Be ready to increase/ ’’ 

“ But it didn’t ! ” insisted Kellam. 


THE EADIO MESSAGE 


21 


This was true also. 

‘‘ Of course it was a misunderstanding, 
Jack,” finished Graves good-naturedly. “ I 
won’t drag you into it. It’s lucky the thing 
ended no worse.” He picked up a chart and 
descended the ladder. 

A few minutes later the doctor entered the 
chart house, where Graves was laying off 
courses. 

“ Where are we? ” he asked. He really 
wanted to talk about the collision. Graves 
showed him a circle on the chart. 

The doctor was tall and fair-haired, with 
regular features. His expression was frank 
and sincere but worried; for during his year of 
naval life he had had many difficult questions 
to solve — not of medicine, in which he was well 
prepared, but in naval etiquette, which he 
knew nothing of to start with, and which he 
took much to heart. Though Graves was five 
years and two cruises his senior, he had never 


22 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

tried to impress the young doctor with his im- 
portance; and the other was grateful. A 
strong friendship had sprung up between 
them — and the doctor took friendship as seri- 
ously as naval etiquette. His momentary con- 
cern was on Graves’s account. 

“ These fogs are tricky things,” he said, 
bending over the chart as if interested only in 
that. “ I’m glad nothing serious xjame of the 
collision.” 

“ Something serious may come to me,” re- 
marked Graves, without his usual laugh. 
“ I’ll feel like jumping ship when we get into 
port.” 

The doctor felt sympathetic but did not 
know what to say. 

“Hello!” he said, “aren’t we going to 
Honolulu?” 

“Why, yes.” 

“ But we are heading way to the north of 
it!” 

“Oh!” explained Graves, “we are on a 


THE EADIO MESSAGE 


23 


great circle course. As the earth is a sphere, 
the nearest distance on the surface between 
two points is a part of the circle you would 
make if you cut the earth in two with a huge 
knife passing through the two points on the 
surface and also through the centre of the 
earth.” 

“ Where does the circle come in? ” said the 
doctor. “ The two halves would fall apart.” 

“ Imagine them sewn together,” answered 
Graves. “ The seam along the surface would 
be a circle, and we are sailing along the part 
of such a circle between San Francisco and 
Honolulu. It shows on an ordinary chart not 
as a straight line, but as a curve. Just where 
we are now the curve points above Honolulu, 
but we’ll slide down the hill again. We save 
a hundred miles that way.” 

“ I’ll loiow some navigation before this 
cruise is over,” laughed the doctor. 


CHAPTER II 


A CIECLE BOUND THE MOON 
HE ships passed Diamond Head and 



Waikiki Beach and, slipping through the 
narrow entrance, moored in the circular basin 
that is Honolulu harbor. They had hardly 
tied up when the Admiral signaled for Cap- 
tain Barstow and Lieutenant Graves to report 
on board. 

After talking a while with the Captain, the 
Admiral sent for Graves to enter the cabin. 
Captain Barstow returned to the Greenville. 

Admiral Stockton was seated at his desk 
when Graves entered. The Admiral was a 
severe-looking man, with a military bearing 
and a bristling black moustache — but his fea- 
tures were clean-cut, and his eye, though hard, 
was straight. 

“ Well, Mr. Graves,” said the Admiral, ac- 


24 


A CIECLE BOUND THE MOON 25 

knowledging the young officer’s salutation 
with a nod, “ we all know that something went 
wrong the other day. Now tell me how it 
happened.” He fixed his eyes on Graves, who 
looked back at him frankly. As their looks 
crossed the Admiral’s expression became less 
hard. 

Graves told the Admiral how the part of 
the message he had heard left him no option 
but to change speed at the time fixed. 

“ So that you speeded up, and we didn’t, 
and you bumped us in the fog? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“Was the message turned over to you as it 
came? ” asked the Admiral, with a piercing 
look at the young navigator. 

“ I suppose it was, sir,” replied Graves, who 
had made up his mind to shoulder the thing 
himself. “ There was a fresh breeze and I 
must have missed the last few words.” 

The Admiral said nothing, but kept his 
gray eyes fixed on Graves. 


26 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDBES 

“ You must have thought the signal a queer 
one. Why didn’t you send for the message 
and read it? ” 

“ I ought to have done that, sir.” 

The more Graves took the blame without 
offering doubtful excuses, the more the Ad- 
miral’s hard expression relaxed; but his mous- 
tache still bristled, and his voice remained 
stern and metallic. 

“A collision at sea is no small thing, Mr. 
Graves. The officer responsible has a heavy 
weight to carry. Many millions are tied up 
in two armored cruisers — and two thousand 
lives are concerned.” 

For once Graves looked thoroughly serious. 

“ Fortunately in this case,” continued the 
Admiral in a less severe tone, “ no great harm 
was done and there were mitigating circum- 
stances. Of course, you should have asked 
Mr. Kellam — ^he was the officer you relieved? 
— to repeat such a doubtful message; and you 
should have been more alert to see the ship 


A CIECLE BOUND THE MOON 27 

ahead. Captain Barstow tells me you are cool 
and quick — but he admits that you are careless 
as a navigator.” 

Graves knew this well. He was too easy- 
going for his job. 

“ Of course,” concluded the Admiral, “ I’ll 
have to order a board of investigation. But 
perhaps I’ll recommend that no further action 
be taken.” He rose to his feet, stretched back 
his arms, and took in a breath. “ Only — mind 
your weather helm in future! ” 

The next week was one of joys — ^horseback 
rides about the city; trips up the mountain; 
golf and tennis; swimming parties at the 
beach. 

One afternoon a party consisting of Graves, 
Kellam, two California girls, and a Honolulu 
lawyer, were paddling in the soft waters off 
Waikiki. 

“ Let’s get a dugout and ride in on a 
wave! ” proposed one of the girls. 


28 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

This is the finest of sports. As a comber 
comes rolling in, everybody in the savage- 
looking dugout paddles like mad. The wave, 
overtaking the canoe, picks it up and carries it 
towards the beach with the speed of an express 
train. 

“There’s the canoe!” exclaimed Graves; 
“ but we need another man to paddle. Yon- 
der’s a chap floating — we’ll ask him.” The 
party climbed into the narrow dugout. 

The swimmer accepted; and, with the civil- 
ian’s help. Graves pulled him into the place 
between himself and Kellam, who was talking 
to one of the girls. 

“Here comes a fine roller!” shouted the 
Honolulu man, “ Now paddle for all you’re 
worth! ” 

As the dugout was seized by the wave and 
dashed in on its crest, the last arrival looked 
back over his shoulder. 

“ Isn’t this great? ” he shouted to Kellam. 

Kellam looked at him and started to answer 


A CIECLE BOUND THE MOON 29 

— ^but the next moment he had fallen out of 
the boat. Being a good swimmer he was in 
no danger; but he had no other chance to tell 
the stranger that it was great. 

As the young officers returned aboard the 
Greenville a squadron of six foreign warships 
was sighted standing in towards Honolulu. 

“ Looks interesting,” murmured Captain 
Barstow, who was studying the column with 
his glasses from the quarter-deck. ‘‘ They 
must be the battle cruisers just built for the 
Oriental Empire.” 

Since the formation of this new Asiatic em- 
pire there had been great activity in its ship- 
yards. The United States Government, al- 
ways anxious for peace, was watching closely 
this great new power with its two hundred 
million inhabitants, warlike spirit, and unlim- 
ited money. 

The six fast cruisers steamed in close and 
anchored simultaneously in the finest style. 


30 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

Every man on the Greenville was watching 
them and wondering what their business was. 

Next day hundreds of the brown and yellow 
men, in their natty white and buff uniforms, 
were ashore. Towards dusk Graves and the 
doctor were strolling about, inspecting Hono- 
lulu, when they passed a beautiful house and 
garden of Oriental design. Well back from 
the street was a tea house in which some Asi- 
atic sailors were drinking tea or said and talk- 
ing earnestly. As the two officers passed the 
gateway they nearly ran into a man who was 
hurrying out. 

He looked up angrily; then hesitated and 
stopped. 

“Why, hello!” cried the doctor. “That 
you, Kellam? What in the world ” 

Kellam interrupted him gruffly. 

“ I went in to look at this garden — they say 
it’s the finest in town; but those Orientals 
came crowding in — I had to leave.” 

“ Going our way? ” asked Graves. 


A CIECLE BOUND THE MOON 31 

“No,” said Kellam; “ IVe got a date at 
Young’s. See you on the ship.” He turned 
off at the corner and hurried away. 

Next day at lunch Commander Latch made 
an announcement that was followed by a buzz 
of conversation. 

“Well, gentlemen! — sailing orders at mid- 
night to-night. We go on detached duty to 
San Francisco via San Diego. There's some- 
thing brewing! ” 

“ I saw a circle round the moon last night! ” 
remarked Graves. 


CHAPTER III 


NOT A TOTAL LOSS 

VE got me guessing! Don’t see 
what a light is doing there! ” 

Graves was studying the chart and talking 
over his shoulder to Kellam, the officer of the 
deck. It was a few minutes after four in the 
morning, and still dark; the ship, after two 
days at San Diego, was standing up the coast 
of California, somewhere north of Point Con- 
ception. 

Graves gave his easy laugh, and took an- 
other look at the distant white light gleaming 
out of the darkness. He could not see the 
face of Kellam, who stood just behind the 
dimly-lighted compass. 

“ Perhaps it’s a star. Graves — or some 
steamer’s masthead light.” 

32 


NOT A TOTAL LOSS 


33 


“ It doesn’t look like a star; it’s not a 
steamer, for you can’t see it from the deck.” 

“ What’s that got to do with it? ” Kellam’s 
voice sounded hoarse and sleepy. 

“ Don’t you know? If you can see a light 
from here and can’t see it from a deck ten feet 
below, you know it’s a long way off — and a 
steamer's light only shows about five miles.” 

“ Why do you know it’s a long way off? ” 

“ Because if it wasn’t, a matter of ten feet 
or so wouldn’t make any difference; but if it is, 
the curvature of the earth hides it unless you 
get high enough to look over the curve.” 

Kellam knew some navigation too; but he 
had come in as a reserve officer and had missed 
many of the fine points. 

“ Didn’t you expect to sight a lighthouse? ” 
he asked ; “ there was something about one in 
the night orders.” 

As watch officer it was his duty to keep a 
lookout for lights; but Graves, as navigator, 
had to say when they would be expected. 


34 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 


“ Not yet,” replied Graves. “ We’d hardly 
sight anything before six o’clock. Here’s 
where we are — see? ” 

He showed Kellam the chart, with a line in- 
dicating the ship’s course, and a circle at the 
point where the ship ought to be, by his reck- 
oning, at 4 A. M. 

“We are forty miles away, and we couldn’t 
see that light more than twenty-five at most. 
I guess it is a star — but, confound it, I wish it 
would twinkle!” With another good-hu- 
mored laugh he walked over towards Kellam, 
who made no reply. 

“ We had a hot game of bridge last night,” 
continued Graves. “ I never held such hands 
— never less than five trumps or thirty aces. 
I didn’t get to bed till midnight. Where were 
you? ” 

“ In my hunk,” answered Kellam shortly. 
“ I didn’t train at your Naval Academy,” his 
voice had a most sarcastic note, “ and I need a 
clear head when I’m on duty. I always try to 


NOT A TOTAL LOSS 


35 


turn in very early when I have the morning 
watch.’’ 

“ That’s what I ought’ve done; but I can’t 
leave a bridge game and a crowd of good fel- 
lows. When the messenger called me this 
morning, I ” 

“ What time? ” 

“ Well, I left a call for 3 a. m. — but I was 
dead at that time. I heard the messenger 
rap, but as he didn’t say what time it was, I 
turned over and slept an hour on the other 
side.” 

“ I thought you were down for 3 a. m.” 
The darkness still hid Kellam’s face, but his 
voice sounded harsh. Graves did not reply; 
and the hiss of smooth water under the bow 
was the only sound. 

The helmsman turned his wheel a spoke or 
two, and the quartermaster, dimly outlined 
behind him, uttered a low word of instruction. 
Graves yawned and looked at the stars oscil- 
lating to and fro above the mast. 


36 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ Guess I’ll go down and get ready for a 
star sight. There’s old Mars up there — red 
as ever — I’ll catch him at dawn. Glad it’s 
not hazy to the westward.” 

There is a time, just at dawn, when the stars 
and planets are still visible, and the horizon 
line, hidden at night when the stars are bright- 
est, begins to show itself. The navigator 
seizes this chance to measure the angles be- 
tween stars and horizon with his sextant; and 
can thus work out a position before sunrise. 
When no landmarks are visible he has to fix 
his latitude and longitude with the aid of two 
useful sciences. Astronomy and Trigonometry. 

Graves was back in a few minutes, sextant 
in hand. 

“ I don’t know where this will put us! ” he 
laughed. “ Star sights are tricky things, and 
mine don’t always work out. The last put 
the ship ten miles inland — on a mountain ! ” 

“ Like Noah’s ark,” remarked Kellam 
drily. 


NOT A TOTAL LOSS 


37 


On this occasion, either Mars was out of 
place or Graves’s figures were wrong; for 
though he spent half an hour making calcula- 
tions in the chart house, they produced no re- 
sult. This time the ship seemed to be near 
Honolulu some two thousand miles away. 
Graves felt sleepy, and his head ached. As- 
tronomy, Trigonometry, and logarithms that 
dance in their tables, are not amusing before 
5 A. M. He decided to wait for morning cof- 
fee and sunrise. 

“ I almost think I see land over there, sir,” 
said the quartermaster, when Graves reap- 
peared. The white light, now on the quarter, 
was still visible. Day was almost dawning; 
but it was thick and hazy to the eastward, 
where shore would lie. 

“Not on your life!” replied Graves. 
“ We’re too far out. It’s a cloud you see.” 

“ Perhaps so,” said the quartermaster, 
straining through the night glasses. Kellam 
said nothing, but pursed his lips. 


88 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“What’s that?” cried Graves suddenly. 
“ I could have sworn I heard a railway 
whistle.” 

“ I didn’t hear it,” said Kellam. “ How 
did your star sight work out? ” he questioned, 
smiling slightly. “ Was it ” 

“ Good-morning, Mr. Navigator! ” broke in 
a chipper and rather caustic voice. “ Know 
where we are? ” The young men, turning, 
recognized the tall, angular figure of Com- 
mander Latch, the executive officer. 

“ Right here, sir,” answered Graves 
quickly, indicating a point on the chart. 

“ Right on that dot, eh? Glad you have it 
exactly. How did your star sight check? ” 
The Commander’s expression was cynical and 
keen. 

“It put us near Honolulu!” answered 
Graves frankly. Latch made a jerking mo- 
tion with his arm and turned away. 

“A minute ago,” added Graves, “ I could 
have sworn I heard a whistle; but that’s im- 


NOT A TOTAL LOSS 


39 


possible unless it was a steamer.” His ruddy 
face looked puzzled. 

“ Perhaps it was a whistling buoy, if we are 
near Honolulu,” suggested Latch, smiling 
sardonically. “ If we are on your dot we cer- 
tainly can’t hear a locomotive or a factory 
whistle. But speaking of trains, you might 
do like some reserves on a sub-chaser during 
the war.” Latch had a great fund of rem- 
iniscences. 

“ What was that, sir? ” asked Graves, 
smiling. 

“ They had to navigate down the coast, and 
they didn’t understand navigation. When- 
ever they wanted to know where they were 
they steamed in close and read the sign on a 
railway station. They had a perfect run, and 
the Admiral complimented them highly ! ” 

“ I wish we could do that! ” laughed Graves 
— “ but we’d hit bottom before we saw the 
signs.” 

“ Yes,” assented Latch. “ That’s a good 


40 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

plan, but it wouldn’t work here. We can’t go 
in closer than a mile or two.” 

“ Well, we are fifteen miles out,” remarked 
Graves, reassuringly. 

“ Glad of it. Hello! what’s that? ” Latch 
jumped to the bridge rail. 

A beam of light, as if from a monstrous 
fiery eye, was suddenly shining in their faces. 

“That’s another lighthouse. Saints alive! 
Where are we? ” exclaimed Latch, making 
a dash for the chart. 

“ There’s land on three sides of us. Com- 
mander! ” said Kellam quietly. “ I can see it 
quite distinctly. That second light has just 
opened up from behind a point. We are in a 
sort of cove.” 

“Stop both engines!” shouted Graves. 
“ Back hard ! ” There was a great churning 
of water astern. 

“ Get bearings of those two lights right 
away, Mr. Graves!” roared Latch. “Get a 
cast of the lead, Mr. Kellam ! ” 


NOT A TOTAL LOSS 


41 


Graves was already taking bearings of the 
distant light that had been visible all morning 
and of the other, evidently very close, that had 
just appeared. With two such bearings it is 
easy to plot the exact position of the ship on 
a chart. 

“Ye gods and little fishes! This is where 
we are ! ” shouted Latch, pointing to the chart, 
on which he had drawn in the compass bear- 
ings as Graves called them out. “ Here’s your 
intersection. Your other fix was wrong by 
nearly fifteen miles. Hard left rudder!” 

The ship swung round and headed out to 
sea. By this time a thin line of breakers, out- 
lining the shore, could be dimly seen, ahead 
and on both sides. 

“ How much water, Mr. Kellam? ” asked 
Commander Latch. 

“ Sixteen feet, sir! ” answered Kellam, with 
an odd look at Graves. The ship was draw- 
ing fifteen feet. 

“Lucky the sea is smooth!” replied the 


42 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

Executive. “ We’d be pounding the mud if it 
wasn’t.” 

As soon as the ship was safely past the point 
where the lighthouse was, Graves hurried 
down to the chart house to find his work-book. 
How could this thing have happened? The 
night before his eight o’clock position had 
been perfectly fixed by not only two but three 
lights in sight. Since then he had been run- 
ning on a compass course almost paralleling 
the coast; and this had been drawn in on the 
chart from his eight o’clock fix. 

If the fix was right, if the compass course 
was the one laid out, if the compass itself was 
right — the ship must he twelve or fifteen miles 
from shore; but it was barely two miles off- 
shore. 

He checked over all his work. 

The true course taken from the chart must 
be given two corrections before the course to 
be steered is named. 

One of these corrections is known as the 


NOT A TOTAL LOSS 


43 


variation and changes with the geographical 
locality; the other is called the deviation^ and 
varies with the heading of the ship. 

Knowing the course he wants to make (as 
shown by the chart) the navigator must cor- 
rect it so many degrees for variation and so 
many for deviation before setting the compass 
course. 

Now Graves had wanted to make the 
course: NW (or North forty-five degrees 
West) that he had laid down on the chart. 
The combined correction for variation and de- 
viation was five degrees — and, as he found 
when he went over his work, he had applied it 
the wrong way! 

Consequently, while he was playing bridge 
and sleeping, the ship, in the darkness, had 
been heading inshore ten degrees more than he 
had supposed. Had the Greenville gone a 
mile further on that course, she and Graves’s 
career — ^would have been on the rocks. 

He jumped back up the ladder two steps at 


44 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

a time. Latch, looking very grim, was stand- 
ing by the helmsman. 

“ Well, Mr. Graves,” he said sardonically, 
“ shall we go on to our destination? — or is 
there some other cove you want to visit? ” 

“ IVe found what the trouble was. Com- 
mander. The fact is, I applied my compass 
correction the wrong way.” 

“ And we were heading inshore all night? ” 
Latch made an expressive gesture. 

“ Yes, sir.” Graves turned his large, clear 
eyes on the Executive. His manner was nei- 
ther reckless nor apologetic: but despair was 
in his heart. What would the Captain think? 
and what must he think of himself for making- 
such a blunder? 

There was a footstep on the ladder. The 
Captain had been called, and was coming 
up. 

“Captain!” said Graves walking up to 
him. “ I made a mess of things last night. 
I set the wrong course and we came near hit- 


NOT A TOTAL LOSS 46 

ting something. We are heading straight out 
now, sir.” 

Captain Barstow had been unfortunate 
enough to ground a ship on his previous 
cruise. Naval officers have to cruise in all 
parts of the world; and on strange coasts, 
ships take to mud as ducks do to water. The 
most skilful navigator is sometimes deceived. 

Having been court-martialed once, Bar- 
stow had become land-shy. Graves knew this, 
and had often noticed the Captain’s nervous- 
ness at the barest possibility of a grounding. 
Now Graves expected an explosion. 

To his surprise the Captain took out his 
cigar case, struck a match very deliberately, 
lighted his cigar, and said — ^nothing at all for 
several minutes. Finally he remarked: 

‘‘ I’ll have to check all your work after this! 
Run well out to sea, and then bring her back 
on her course.” 

This was his only comment. 

For some reason that Graves could not 


46 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


fathom, the Captain had been very friendly 
from the start. With others Barstow was 
testy and nervous — but with Graves he was 
usually smiling and pleasant. 

Latch stood by in silence. He had never 
ihad trouble with compass courses; he had 
stood second in his class at the Naval Acad- 
emy, and had a brain the action of which was 
“ positive.” Though he had no dislike for 
Graves, that young officer’s conduct seemed 
to him inexplicable. 

Graves went down again for his sextant. 
When he returned the Captain and the Ex- 
ecutive were talking in low tones and did not 
notice that Graves was again at his chart 
board. Now and then the navigator was 
forced to hear a word or a part of a sentence; 
and it seemed that they were talking about 
what had just happened and about him. 

Commander Latch was speaking with en- 
ergy, the Captain in more measured tones. 
Finally Graves heard the latter exclaim: 


NOT A TOTAL LOSS 


47 


“Oh, no, Latch! It’s hardly as bad as 
that. He is careless and makes mistakes — 
but he’s not a total loss! ” 

Graves turned hot, then cold. Latch had 
been denouncing him, and the best the Cap- 
tain could say was: 

''Not a total loss ! " 


CHAPTER IV 


THE CHINESE JUNK 
LL that day Graves was too busy navi- 



^ gating to think of anything except light- 
houses, cross-bearings, distances, and sound- 
ings. He was now determined to take all pre- 
cautions and to run no chances. The quarter- 
masters were kept jumping about from bridge 
to taffrail, reading the patent log (which 
shows distances run) , and taking soundings to 
make sure that the ship was safe. 

That night they were snugly anchored in 
San Francisco harbor. Instead of going 
ashore for a good time. Graves turned in early 
to get back lost sleep. But tired as he was, his 
eyes remained wide open; and he kept making 

pictures of what would have happened if the 
48 


THE CHINESE JUNK 


49 


ship had run another mile on the wrong course. 
Not only would she have stranded, perhaps 
broken up ; not only would he and the Captain 
have been court-martialed; but all the secret 
plans of the Navy Department would have 
been upset, and the man who upset them a 
national figure. 

Towards morning he dozed off; but he still 
had dreams of monster eyes blazing suddenly 
out of darkness, of men launching rafts, of 
others dying in the water. 

“ Hello ! ” said a voice. “ Are you ill? ” 

Graves started up, rubbing his eyes. He 
had called out in his sleep. Standing at the 
doorway, in pajamas, was the doctor, with his 
usual earnest face and the expression of a 
faithful mastiff. “ Doc ” had the reputation 
of sticking to his friends; and he was very 
grateful to the older man for befriending a 
chap who hardly knew how to buckle on his 
sword. 

“ I was just fishing that red-headed mes- 


60 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

senger boy out of the sea,” explained Graves. 
“ He had fallen off a raft and was fighting a 
shark.” 

The young doctor laughed. 

“ You fished me out of my bunk all right. I 
thought you had gone out of your head. 
What did you eat last night? ” 

The navigator, who never had anything to 
conceal, told the doctor how near they had 
come to a wreck. By this time he felt more his 
natural self ; and he laughed in his easy way as 
he told the story. 

“ I was born a lobster,” he said good-hu- 
moredly. “ I don’t know how they ever passed 
me at the Naval Academy.” 

“ Doc ” looked grave. He tried to think of 
some way of helping his friend — but his 
knowledge of navigation was confined to great 
circles. 

‘‘Have you seen the new paymaster,” he 
asked. “ He reported when we got in yester- 
day. They say he’s as green as a marsh frog. 


THE CHINESE JUNK 


61 


and his clerk is even greener — they call the 
clerk Happy Hooligan. Somebody told Pay 
— this is his first ship — that he’d have to fur- 
nish his own stateroom; so he came off with a 
desk, a Morris chair, a couple of mattresses, 
and a bird-cage.” 

Graves laughed until his sides ached. He 
had forgotten the drowning messenger boy. 

“ Is this where we are anchored? ” asked 
the doctor, pointing to a small penciled anchor 
on the chart in Graves’s room. 

“ Yes — but I’d like to find a better anchor- 
age — we are too close to the track of ferry- 
boats.” 

“ What are these figures all over the chart 
— 6, 7, 9, and so on? ” 

“ Those are soundings in fathoms. Any- 
thing over 3 suits me. A fathom is six feet, 
you know.” 

‘‘ Well, here’s a fine place, I should think,” 
remarked the doctor, who was interested in 
everything connected with his new work. 


62 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ It’s near the railway station and clear of the 
ferry lanes — and look at the figures: 6, 8, 9, 11 
— just what you want! ” 

“ But you see all that surface is dotted. On 
the dotted surfaces of a chart like this the 
soundings mean feet. We’d be the Overland 
Limited if we went in there.” 

“ Are the soundings given for high water? ” 

“ No — for low water. At high it’s about a 
fathom more.” 

“ All right! ” said the doctor triumphantly. 
“ Why not work in at high and settle down at 
low for a long stay? ” 

“ Don’t forget our Special Mission. There 
are all sorts of rumors about the Greenville's 
job.” 

Graves stepped into Kellam’s stateroom. 
Kellam was older than most officers of his 
rank; he had entered during the war as an 
ensign; had risen several grades; and a year 
before had been commissioned as a lieutenant 


THE CHIimSE JUNK 


53 


in the regular service. He always seemed 
busy, sometimes with papers (he would have 
made a fine clerk), sometimes with wires and 
bits of mechanism, for he was a good mechanic. 

When Graves entered he was just finishing 
a letter. 

“Don’t let me interrupt you!” apologized 
Graves. 

“ Come in! ” said Kellam, though not very 
cordially. “ I was just writing to some 
friends of my father who wanted me to spend 
a week-end with them — my father’s law part- 
ner before he went on the bench — they have 
a fine old place down at Burlingame.” 

Kellam lighted a cigarette with the air of a 
man justly proud of his connections, and 
leaned back in his chair. He seemed to be 
looking past Graves into space. 

“Was your father a judge?” exclaimed 
Graves. “ So was mine — back in Kentucky.” 

A strange light flitted across Kellam’s in- 
tense face. 


64 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

“ Was Judge Graves your father? I’ve — 
I’ve heard of him.” He stopped a moment. 

“ A handsome old gentleman with ” 

“ Oh! You have seen him? ” 

“ Photographs,” explained Kellam quickly. 
‘‘ That is, if we are thinking of the same Judge 
Graves.” 

“ He’s the only one I know. What state 
are you from. Jack? ” 

“ I’m from Maryland. My mother be- 
longed to one of those old Baltimore families, 
and my father ” 

“ That’s a fine pair of binoculars you have 
there. You were the first to see land last 
night. It was a close squeak we had! ” 

Graves had purposely interrupted Kellam, 
who talked too much about his family. Be- 
sides, he could not get away from the thought 
of what had occurred. 

“ I’m glad nothing happened,” remarked 
Kellam slowly. “ It would have worried 
Judge Graves if you had run the Greenville 


THE CHINESE JUNK 


55 


on the beach.’’ He lifted his pale face and 
turned his opaque eyes on the other. 

“ It would have killed him! ” 

“ He wouldn’t like to see his own son tried, 
would he? I would have been one of the chief 
witnesses. But I always stand by my friends, 
just as ” 

Graves moved up and slapped Kellam on 
the shoulder. 

“ I know you do, old man,” he interrupted, 
smiling in his lazy, genial way. “ Even when 
they have claws and travel backwards.” 

“ The fact is, Jack,” continued Graves,, 
“ I’ve got to learn navigation all over. When 
they talked about compasses and time-sights 
at the Academy I was always thinking of some 
peach I’d met at a hop or how the shooting 
would be next Christmas. How I did hate 
‘ Deviation of the Compass.’ ” He stretched 
his big frame and smiled at Kellam. 

‘‘ And now you are the navigator of the 
Greenville! How people develop 1 ” The 


56 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

slight note of sarcasm in Kellam’s voice passed 
over Graves’s head. 

You ought to be navigator, old man. 
Your mind works like a steel trap. Pity I 
rank you by ten numbers ! ” Graves gave his 
hearty, good-natured laugh. “ But I’m go- 
ing to qualify for my job. I’ll take private les- 
sons from that fellow in San Francisco and a 
correspondence course from the University. 
Midnight oil, but no more midnight bridge for 
me! ” 

Both officers and crew were anxious to know 
where the ship was going and what its mission 
was; but so far the Captain had said nothing. 
One day, it is true, they got under way for a 
short run to the navy yard at Mare Island. 
As they steamed past the Training Station, 
the quartermaster reported a signal flying on 
the yard-arm of the flagship of the battleship 
squadron then in port. Graves read it with 
the long glass, calling out the numbers ‘ ‘ 3416, ** 


THE CHINESE JUNK 


57 


“ Are you sure you have it right? ” asked 
the Captain, who was standing near him on 
the bridge. 

“Oh, yes, sir. Answer, quartermaster!’’ 

The quartermaster hoisted the answering 
pennant, and the flagship hauled down the 
signal. 

“ What is it? What is it? ” asked Cap- 
tain Barstow, who was always nervous and 
impatient on such occasions. Any message 
from an admiral makes an old-minded cap- 
tain uneasy. 

Graves, who if careful would have looked 
up the signal before answering with the pen- 
nant, now took the signal book and looked up, 
“ 3416 .” 

He gave a low whistle. 

“ The vessel in sight is a Chinese junk! ” he 
read off. 

Commander Latch burst out laughing, but 
the Captain was very much upset. 

“ Now, what shall we do? ” he exclaimed in 


58 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

a helpless, worried tone. “You evidently 
read it wrong, Mr. Graves. We have an- 
swered and the flagship has hauled down! 
Perhaps they wanted us to anchor.” 

“Or to clear ship for action!” muttered 
Latch under his breath. He did not admire 
the Captain in these moods. Barstow, who 
was a relic of the old Navy, would have been 
cool in a fight; but now he was almost wring- 
ing his hands. 

“ What shall we do. Latch? What do you 
suggest? Mr. Graves, except in signal drill, 
never answer a signal without looking it up. 
Report to me in the cabin when you leave the 
bridge.” 

“ I’m in for a call-down! ” thought Graves. 

“ Just send a radio, Captain, and say the 
signal was missed, and ask them to give the 
message by radio,” suggested Latch, in a dry 
voice. 

A few minutes later the operator brought 
up the reply. 


THE CHINESE JUNK 


59 


“Proceed on duty assigned!” read the 
Captain. “ Nothing very important after 
all.” 

Half an hour later Graves reported in the 
cabin. Captain Barstow was again smiling, 
and invited him to enter as if nothing had hap- 
pened. Kellam was also in the cabin. 

“ Oh, Mr. Graves I ” spoke up the Captain 
briskly, “ I just wanted to suggest that you 
look up the instructions and all that in the 

signal code-book. Here it is ” he opened 

a safe and took out the heavy volume. “ I’ll 
let you keep it a while.” 

“ Thank you. Captain — but I have no place 
to lock it up.” 

Code-books must be kept under lock and 
key to prevent their falling into the hands of 
agents of possible enemies. It is a serious of- 
fense to lose a book of this kind. 

“ Well, just take care of it,” answered Bar- 
stow. “ If you hide it in your stateroom no 
one will see it.” 


60 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“Aye, aye, sir!” answered Graves, taking 
the book and walking out. 

“ Let me know if you sight any more 
Chinese junks! ” called the Captain after him. 


CHAPTER V 
UNWELCOME RECEUITS 

A S Graves and Kellam left the cabin to- 
^ gether, they met the second watch of- 
ficer, Long, who handed Graves a letter. 
They had been in successive classes at the 
Naval Academy, and were intimate friends. 
Long had a smiling face set off with dimples, 
and a very emphatic manner. He was a 
Northwesterner, unconventional and inde- 
pendent, but a genial shipmate. Graves felt 
more at ease with him than with Kellam — 
perhaps because the senior watch was years 
older than the other two. In conversation 
Graves and Long were like two friendly pup- 
pies that immediately begin rolling and tum- 
bling each other about. 

“ Here’s your mail, Wizard,” laughed 
61 


62 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

Long. “ Probably a bill from one of your 
many tailors.” 

Graves had been called Wizard for the same 
reason that a very tall man is sometimes called 
“ Shorty.” 

“ I wouldn’t need them if I had your 
dimples. Prince,” retorted Graves. “ But I’ll 
bet you a dollar to a doughnut this isn’t a 
bill.” 

“ I’ll risk a doughnut on that,” assented 
Long. He gave a hearty laugh as Graves, un- 
folding the letter, produced a ten-dollar bill 
enclosed. “ It’s a bill,” he shouted. “ I win! ” 

“ It’s from my old man,” explained Graves. 
“ You’d say you’d won if he’d sent me a duck’s 
bill. He came out to shoot ducks and is in 
Vallejo on business.” 

‘‘Fine! He’ll be near the Navy Yard — 
you must get him off to the ship.” 

“ Who’s that. Graves? — your father coming 
off? ” asked Kellam, who had been taking no 
part in the conversation. 


UNWELCOME EECKUITS 


63 


“ Yes! ” exclaimed Wizard enthusiastically. 
“ I’ll have him off to dinner to-morrow night.” 
The ship was to anchor for the night in Car- 
quinez Straits, some distance from the Navy 
Yard, and to go in closer next day. 

“ Sorry I can’t be aboard then,” said Kel- 
1am politely. “I’d like to meet your father — 
j)erhaps he knows mine. But I have an en- 
gagement I can’t miss.” 

“ That’s too bad. Pity your duty aboard 
isn’t to-morrow instead of to-day.” 

“ Fll be glad to meet your father. Wizard,” 
put in Long. “ It wouldn’t be fair to judge 
him in advance by his son. No, I have not 
seen the log!” he added with good-natured 
emphasis to a messenger who had just come 
up, and who retired grinning. 

But Judge Graves, though an old man, was 
too impatient to see Wizard to wait ashore for 
that officer’s appearance. The ship had 
hardly anchored when a shore boat was seen 
approaching; and five minutes later an old 


64 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


gentleman with bushy white hair and a keen 
eye came jauntily over the gangway. Graves, 
who was on deck, rushed up and threw his 
arms round him. 

“ Oh, Dad! I wouldn’t have missed you for 
anything! We are off on a long cruise in a 
few days.” He walked aft with his father, 
arm in arm. “ It’s only ten minutes to dinner 
time — you must surely stay.” 

Judge Graves readily consented; and at 
seven o’clock walked into the mess-room with 
his son. All the officers were introduced to 
him in that hearty manner characteristic of 
naval officers except Kellam, who had been 
detained on deck. 

Not long afterwards Kellam also appeared, 
and started to sit down as usual without see- 
ing that there was a guest. 

“ J ack ! ” called out Graves to Kellam, who 
as mess treasurer sat at the other end of the 
table, “ I want you to meet my father. Dad, 
this is our serious-minded watch officer — I’m 


UNWELCOME EECEUITS 


65 


not referring to you. Prince!’' He gave his 
care-free laugh. 

Kellain, completely surprised at seeing a 
stranger on board, started up from his chair, 
hesitated, and then advanced to greet Judge 
Graves. The visitor turned to him cordially, 
reaching out his hand — then, with a sudden 
change of manner, said: 

“ Haven’t we met before, Mr. — er ? ” 

“ Mr. Kellam/' prompted his son. 

“Oh! Mr. Kellam!” The Judge’s ex- 
pression changed again. “ I was deceived by 
a remarkable likeness. Very glad to meet one 
of my son’s friends.” 

Kellam bowed in his best Maryland style 
and returned to his place. 

“ Jack thought you might know his father, 
Dad — Judge Kellam of Maryland.” 

“ Judge Kellam? ” repeated Judge Graves, 
looking puzzled. “ No — no — I’ve never 
heard the name. I thought I knew all the 
Maryland judges.” 


66 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 


“ Perhaps I have it wrong then, Dad. He 
may have served in some other state. I know 
Jack’s mother was from Maryland — one of 
the old families.” 

At this moment there was a rap on the table 
and conversation ceased. 

“Gentlemen!” said Commander Latch, 
“ the Captain wishes me to inform all officers 
that we sail on Wednesday for San Diego via 
California City Point, where we coal. From 
San Diego we sail under sealed orders, A 
battalion of marines will come aboard to- 
day.” 

This announcement caused a great stir all 
over the ship. Evidently something important 
was in the air, and evidently there might be 
fighting — as shown by the sealed orders and 
the presence of the marines in addition to the 
ship’s force. Many guesses were exchanged 
as to where the ship was going and what the 
mission was. The newspapers had been full 
of rumors of an Oriental fleet supposed to be 


UNWELCOME EECRUITS 


67 


off Lower California ; but no one aboard — not 
even the Captain — had any exact facts. 

Suddenly a loud argument broke out be- 
tween the young doctor and the new pay- 
master, who sat opposite each other at table. 
Everybody stopped to listen. 

“ The orders haven’t been opened yet,” in- 
sisted the doctor; “ how can you know where 
we are going? ” 

The Paymaster was one of those men who 
do not learn quickly because they know every- 
thing already. He was young and smooth- 
shaven and of medium height; his manner was 
very brisk and businesslike. 

“That’s all right!” he replied; “but 
Jimmy Legs — that’s the master-at-arms, you 
know. Doctor, told my clerk all about it. He 
had the thing straight from the cabin stew- 
ard.” Pay dropped his voice a little and 
looked mysterious. “ We are going down to 
seize Panama and make it the forty-ninth state 
in the Union.” 


68 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

There was a smile all round the table; but 
Pay was too busy giving the doctor informa- 
tion to notice it, and no one — except the doctor 
— said anything. 

“ What does the cabin steward know about 
it? ” exclaimed the latter indignantly. 
“ Panama is a friendly republic — ^we wouldn’t 
seize it like that. Besides, Pay, what could a 
ship’s force and one battalion of marines do 
against the entire Panamanian army? ” 

“ You are not up to date! ” exclaimed Pay, 
with the air of a man who has the facts. 
“ There was a mutiny in their army last week, 
and they elected a king in place of the presi- 
dent. That’s why we are interfering. Ask 
the Chief Master-at-Arms — he knows all 
about it. He has a cousin who’s been made 
Secretary of War. My clerk pumped him 
dry.” 

This was too much for the table. A roar 
followed Pay’s last revelation. 

“ It is a curious fact. Judge Graves,” re- 


UNWELCOME EECEUITS 69 

marked Latch, who had the guest on his right, 
“ that the officers who know most about world 
politics are those who have just recently been 
caught. 

“ That reminds me,” he continued, “ of a 
man in my class who was always very positive. 
One night on his first cruise he was officer of 
the deck and the Captain sent him word to 
change course a little to North by East. He 
misunderstood, changed to South by East — 
just about the opposite, you know — and told 
the orderly to report he had changed to South 
by East. ‘ The Captain said North by East, 
sir,’ said the orderly. ‘ Never mind what you 
think, orderly ! ’ ordered Smith in his positive 
way. ‘ Just tell him what I said! ’ The Cap- 
tain didn’t notice it, and the ship sailed back 
all night. Next morning we sighted land, and 
it was the very island we’d started from!” 
He gave his caustic laugh, and the visitor 
joined in. 

By noon next day the ship was moored 


70 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

alongside the sea-wall at the Navy Yard. 
Conversation at luncheon was interrupted by a 
noise of many feet and the grounding of arms 
overhead. The battalion of marines had just 
marched aboard. With them had come a 
quantity of ammunition and stores, evidently 
for fighting ashore. For the rest of the after- 
noon other sounds were drowned by the con- 
stant rumble of winches, the pipes of the boat- 
swain’s mates, the thud, of boxes landing on 
deck, and all the noise that attends the hurried 
loading on of stores before a sailing. 

Graves, who was standing on the quarter- 
deck, was joined for a moment by the Chief 
Engineer, a forceful looking officer clad in 
overalls. 

Lieutenant Jacklin — for that was his name 
— had been no great scholar at the Naval 
Academy, except in his favorite subject 
“ Steam ” ; but he understood two other sub- 
jects that helped him greatly as an officer: 
Football and Men. He did not dress like an 


UNWELCOME EECEUITS 


71 


athlete, or talk like an athlete, or try to be 
popular with the sailors ; but he was a trained 
leader, and they liked him. 

“ Say, Graves!” he suddenly cried, “what 
have we here? Who are these highbinders 
coming down the dock? Did you ever see such 
a collection of faces? ” 

A squad of six recruits, each carrying a bag 
and a hammock, was marching up from the re- 
ceiving ship. But these were not like ordinary 
recruits. They seemed much older and more 
mature than the boys who usually enlist to see 
the world and a man-of-war. Two had mous- 
taches ; one had a black, untrimmed beard, the 
noses of all were broken or crooked, and there 
was something fierce and uncouth about them. 
The two leaders were tall and powerful; the 
one on the left wore some sort of seaman’s 
cap. 

“What a tough lot!” exclaimed Graves. 
“ Hope they are not coming here. They must 
be lumber-jacks or I-Won’t-Works. How did 


72 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

they ever manage to enlist? For goodness 
sake! They are coming here! ” 

Sure enough, the party had turned at the 
brow and were marching aboard the Green- 
ville, 

"" You may have them in your black gang, 
Chief — we don’t need them on deck!” cried 
Graves. ‘‘ That first man on the left does 
walk like a sailor — but what an expression!” 

“ They look like criminals to me! ” observed 
Judge Graves, who was aboard to say good- 
bye. “ I know the type of face.” 

“ Perhaps some judge who says he’s a pa- 
triot made them enlist to escape punishment,” 
suggested his son. “ That actually happens 
sometimes.” 

“ The judge who does that ought to be im- 
peached!” remarked the father. 

“ Well,” said Jacklin, “ I’ll go forward and 
see who they are. I’m mortally afraid some 
of them have been wished on me.” 

He returned in a few minutes. 


UNWELCOME EECRUITS 


73 


“Brace yourself for the worst!” he ex- 
claimed. “You get two in your department, 
Wizard — one’s a chief quartermaster and the 
other’s to be your yeoman. But I — I get 
four! They all enlisted to-day in special rat- 
ings on special authority from Washington.” 

Graves tried to laugh this off in his usual 
way; but since the night he had almost 
wrecked the Greenville, he had begun to worry 
himself about navigation ; now it did not 
please him to think that the Chief Quarter- 
master, his principal assistant, looked like a 
disguised pirate. 

Later in the afternoon the man reported to 
him for orders. He had small and, it seemed 
to Graves, cunning eyes; the sinister expres- 
sion of his face was increased by a scar across 
the lips. The tip of his nose pointed well to 
the left. Altogether, his appearance was far 
from pleasing; but, as the navigator soon 
found, he was not ignorant as to his duties. 

“ What’s your name? ” asked the officer. 


74 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 
Rostov, sir.” 

“ United States citizen? ” 

“ Sure, sir — and my father before me.” 
His little eyes twinkled. 

“ Ever been a chief quartermaster before? ” 

“ Yes, sir.” 

“ Very well. I won’t have to explain your 
duties. We’ll probably go to sea day after to- 
morrow.” 

“ Aye, aye, sir ” — and the man, with a half- 
smile, swaggered off in a way Graves did not 
like. 

“ Mr. Graves,” said Latch, who had just 
come up from below, “ I have to go ashore 
on duty. Keep things moving briskly — it’s 
important ! ” His tone was severe and official. 

For some time past Latch’s manner had 
shown his disapproval of the navigator. He 
had a high sense of duty, and his own think- 
ing was always clear. A mistake to him 
meant only one thing — deliberate neglect of 
duty. He had no patience with an officer 


UNWELCOME EECKUITS 75 

guilty of that. Graves felt hurt by the change 
in the older officer’s manner. 

He slept badly again that night; in the early 
hours of morning he lay awake thinking of his 
past shortcomings, of Latch’s unfriendliness, 
of the Captain’s strange friendliness. He 
thought again of his plans for studying navi- 
gation — but what could he do with the ship 
sailing so soon for an unknown destination? 
He decided, at any rate, to spend the evenings 
working in his stateroom. 

The following afternoon, on the Captain’s 
invitation, he went into the cabin. Long and 
Kellam were there; and talking with Kellam 
was the Captain’s wife, who seemed much 
younger than her husband. Seated on the 
piano stool, and chatting gaily with Long, was 
a small but self-possessed young girl with 
wavy brown hair, bright eyes rather far apart, 
and glowing cheeks. She wore a white waist 
with a white rose in the corsage, and her green 


76 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

skirt blended with the green mandarin’s robe 
on the piano. Altogether, thought Graves, 
a pretty picture! 

“ My daughter, Mr. Graves,” introduced 
the Captain. “ Alice, you have heard of Mr. 
Graves before.” 

Again Graves was surprised by the cordial- 
ity of the young lady’s greeting. She spoke 
as if to an old friend — though Wizard was 
sure he had never seen her before. 

The ice was broken before it had formed. 
Long went to talk with Mrs. Barstow, leaving 
Graves and Alice laughing and talking as if 
they had known each other since childhood. 
At the end of an hour they were still laughing, 
but talking about serious things. Graves told 
her of his mistake and of his worries. 

“ I have a philosophy,” said the young girl, 
with the air of one who has had long experi- 
ence. “ I used to worry myself a great deal, 
and it gave me headaches. Instead of sleeping 
at night, I would think about disagreeable 


UNWELCOME EECEUITS 77 

things. Finally I read somewhere of a man 
who stopped worrying by saying to himself 
ten times every night, ‘ Can the Care.’ I 
found that if I did my best in everything and 
then said, ‘ Can the Care ’ ten times at night 
and five in the morning, I made great progress 
and was much happier. I made friends with 
all the girls I had hated before.” 

“ And the young men? ” asked Graves. 
“ Perhaps I should say, the young man? ” 

“ I forgot him, too. Now I have no more 
cares. I’m not careless, you know — but I 
don’t fret. I never think of anything I don’t 
like except how to help it. It’s a splendid 
system — ^you ought to try it.” 

Alice’s eyes had got brighter as she de- 
scribed her system, and now she was looking at 
Graves with her lips half -parted. Her logic 
seemed irresistible. 

“ Well,” he said, “ I think I will. It can’t 
do any harm, and may do a great deal of 
good.” 


CHAPTER VI 
A DANGEROUS DOCKING 



‘HE following night Graves went up to 


the chart house to get his sextant, which 
he wished to adjust while in port. The com- 
pass was close to a mast, with rigging on each 
side, and a search-light platform almost over- 
head. As Graves reached the door of the 
chart house he saw a form in the rigging. 
Some man was standing there alone in the 
darkness. Switching on a light, he was sur- 
prised to recognize Kellam, who was in over- 


alls. 


“Why, hello. Jack!” he exclaimed, sur- 
prised. “ What in thunder are you doing here 
— and in those clothes? ” 

“ IVe been down in the fireroom,” ex- 


78 


A DANGEEOUS DOCKING 79 

plained Kellam; “ and I came up here to cool 
off.” 

“ Fireroom! ” 

“ Yes — I’m boning up for my exam — look- 
ing up those Thornycroft boilers.” 

“You certainly are industrious, Jack! I 
thought you were ashore.” 

“ I’d expected to go — ^but the party in the 
city called the date off. Well, good-night. 
Graves. I’ll go back to my boilers.” Kellam 
disappeared down a hatch. 

Just before sailing for California City 
Point, where the ship was to coal. Graves re- 
ceived from the Hydrographic Office a batch 
of “ Notices to Mariners,” telling of various 
dangers to navigation; but being busy with 
other things, he did not look these over. 

Excitement ran high on board, for fighting 
was in the air. The sealed orders were not to 
be opened until the ship left San Diego, but 
all sorts of rumors were afioat as to the desti- 
nation. “ Happy Hooligan ” now had it that 


80 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


the story about Panama was a mistake, and 
that the real purpose was to seize Valparaiso 
from Chile. Another report was that the 
United States intended taking over a cable 
station on an island claimed by Great Britain. 
One man’s guess was as good as another’s, and 
everybody guessed. 

When the ship anchored for the night off 
the coaling station, ready for an early start in 
the morning, it occurred to Graves to look at 
his “ Notices to Mariners.” The first that 
struck his eye read as follows: 

“ Mare Island, California. — The channel 
near the Naval Magazine has recently filled 
with silt from the Napa River so that vessels 
drawing fifteen feet or more must be careful 
to go out on a range indicated by a red mark 
on the corner of the Flour Mills and a tank 
on the hillside above. The north side of the 
channel must be specially avoided.” 


A cold wave ran down Graves’s spine. He 
had known nothing of the range, and had kept 


A DANGEEOUS DOCKING 81 

well to the northward going out. Only one 
thing had saved him: the channel had washed 
out again since the notice was issued! 

“Can the Care!” said Graves to himself, 
with a picture of Alice Barstow’s serio-smiling 
face in his mind. “ But I solemnly swear that 
I will never again go to sea without reading 
the Notices to Mariners! ” 

That night he went to bed early and slept 
soundly. 

Next morning there was some delay about 
going alongside, as the chutes of the coaling 
plant were not quite ready. After breakfast 
Graves sent for Rostov, the new Chief Quar- 
termaster. 

“ Rostov can’t come right away, sir,” re- 
ported the messenger. “ He had trouble with 
Jimmy Legs, and the Cap’n’s talking to him 
at the mast.” 

Less than three days aboard, and in trouble 
already! Graves hurried to the “mast” 
(where the Captain holds his court) to see 


82 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


what his subordinate had been doing. He 
found there the Captain, the Commander, the 
Master-at-Arms, Rostov, and the new yeo- 
man, 

‘‘ You say, Rostov,” the Captain was re- 
marking as Graves came up, “ that the Mas- 
ter-at-Arms swore at you and then hit you 
over the head? ” 

“ Just that, sir — I wasn’t doing a thing. I 
was just hurrying aft to wind the chronom- 
eters, when the ship rolls a little and I acci- 
dentally bumps into Jimmy Legs. " Excuse 
me ! ’ I says. Then he swore at me, and I said, 
‘ I beg your pardon, Master-at-Arms ; I didn’t 
go to do it.’ Then without another word he 
hauls off an’ hits me on the skull. You can 
feel the bump now. I had to go to sick bay 
and get it fixed up.” Rostov’s little eyes 
gleamed maliciously. 

The Master-at-Arms, a hard-headed man of 
German descent, was getting redder and red- 
der. At this point he broke in. 


A DANGEEOUS DOCKING 83 

“ It wasn’t that way at all, Captain. This 
man has been trying to make trouble ever since 
he came aboard. A little before seven bells 
I came along and found him talking loud to a 
crowd of fellows on the port side. It was 
something about not coaling ship. It looked 
to me as if he was trying to start trouble, and 
I told him to move on. He slouched off with- 
out a word just then; but when I was off by 
myself near the paint locker, he came up to 
me, sir, and shook his fist in my face, and 
called me names I wouldn’t repeat, sir. This 
other fellow came up about that time. He 
knows about it.” The Master-at-Arms 
pointed to the yeoman. 

“ Bonehead ! ” thought Graves. “ He’s ap- 
pealing to one of Rostov’s own henchmen.” 

“ How was it. Yeoman? ” asked the Cap- 
tain. 

“ Just as Rostov says, sir! ” replied the man 
glibly. “ He accidentally brushed against the 
Master-at-Arms and got hit over the head. 


84 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

He was going to tell the officer of the deck 
when the Master-at-Arms hauled him to the 
mast.” 

“ How about this, Master-at-Arms? ” asked 
the Captain, with a troubled air. “ Appar- 
ently you were at fault.” 

“ Both these men are lying. Captain. I told 
you how it was, sir.” 

“ Jimmy Legs ” did not have the ingratiat- 
ing manner of the new yeoman — in fact his 
tone rather ruffled the Captain. 

“ Well, Master-at-Arms,” said the latter, 
“ here is a man with a witness to support him 
who says you hit him without cause — and you 
say Rostov was insubordinate. I can’t punish 
him unless you make out a better case.” 

Latch turned aside with his cynical smile; 
and the two new men went forward, also 
grinning as soon as their backs were turned. 
The Master-at-Arms, looking more injured 
than ever, went down a hatch, shaking his 
head. 


A DANGEEOUS DOCKING 


85 


At nine o’clock, as the chutes were ready, 
the anchor was hove up and the ship got under 
way to go alongside the dock. The Captain 
was on the bridge, “ conning,” or directing the 
steering. 

Twenty years ago officers reached command 
rank too late in life. They were old men be- 
fore they got authority; and, in many cases, 
were over-cautious. The modern young cap- 
tain, who has been firing turret guns and run- 
ning destroyers about since he was an ensign, 
has a very different spirit. But Barstow, who 
had been “ passed over ” several times, was al- 
ready old in years and older still at heart — a 
left-over of a disappearing type. An old- 
minded captain had a horror of putting his 
ship alongside a wharf or dock. He might 
ram the wharf, or he might crush the ship. 
The result was a “ vicious circle lack of skill 
made over-caution; and over-caution, prevent- 
ing practice, increased lack of skill ! 

Barstow was smoking a big cigar to conceal 


86 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

his nervousness. He had visions of crashing 
into the dock or of scraping off two or three 
of the Greenville's boats. A ship, if unskil- 
fully handled, is as fragile as an egg and as de- 
termined to harm itself as a frightened hen. 
In going alongside it may easily receive or 
cause damage amounting to thousands of dol- 
lars. 

Accordingly, the Captain did not handle his 
ship with confidence. After slowing down so 
that the ship was barely moving — a wise pro- 
cedure at certain times — ^he steered to keep as 
far away as possible from the dock he was try- 
ing to reach! He missed it by fifty feet. 

“Let’s try again!” said Latch to himself 
with a sigh. “ I hope we’ll start coaling by 
noon.” 

It was necessary to circle around for an- 
other attempt ; with a long ship like the Green- 
ville this takes many minutes. 

Bad luck the first time made the Captain all 
the more nervous. He threw away his cigar 


A DANGEEOUS DOCKING 


87 


and lighted a fresh one, and rested his weight 
first on one foot then on the other. To make 
matters worse, the flagship, which also needed 
coal, had anchored.not half a mile away; and 
the Admiral on the quarter-deck was an inter- 
ested spectator. 

Graves, who, in spite of his faults, had a 
quick eye and good judgment in handling a 
ship, noticed the Captain’s uneasiness. He 
felt grateful to Barstow and wished to help 
him. 

“ Captain,” he suggested, “ if you like, sir, 
I will do the conning this time, and you can 
stand at the end of the bridge and take general 
charge. You can see the dock, and the lines, 
and everything there.” 

This was a tactful way of offering to try his 
hand in place of the Captain’s. Barstow 
should not have consented — but he did. 

“ All right, Mr. Graves. You look out for 
the helm and the engines. I’ll stand here 
where I can see.” 


88 SAILITO UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

As the tide was setting the ship in, Graves 
rang for more speed. He also directed a 
course closer to the dock. 

This time Barstow was thinking of the Ad- 
miral — and of what he would say if, for a sec- 
ond time, the ship missed the dock altogether. 

‘‘ Give her left rudder, Mr. Graves ! ” he 
shouted. “ You are keeping too far off.” 

“ I don’t think so. Captain,” demurred 
Graves. “ It looks about right to me, sir.” 

“ Oh yes, yes! ” insisted Barstow. “ You’ll 
be too far off to heave a line even.” 

“ As you say, sir. Left rudder! ” 

Where personal skill is necessary, it always 
works badly if two officers are trying to do 
the same thing at the same time. 

“Better slow down!” suggested Barstow, 
shifting his weight to the other foot. 

Though it is usually well to go alongside a 
dock very slowly, this may not apply if the 
tide is sweeping the ship in. Some speed is 
necessary to keep control. 


A DANGEEOUS DOCKING 


89 


Anchored near the end of the dock, in a 
position of supposed safety, was the station 
launch. Only the engineer was aboard. It 
now became evident that the Greenville would 
not miss the dock — furthermore, that she 
would not miss the launch! The engineer, be- 
ing an experienced mariner, jumped over- 
board and swam to the wharf. 

“ Stop her! Stop her! ” implored the Cap- 
tain. 

Graves, who had already stopped, now 
backed his engines; but the Greenville had no 
idea of stopping yet. She struck the launch 
bows on, made a great gash amidships, and 
sunk it. 

Meanwhile Commander Latch, who was al- 
ways alert, had got an anchor ready. With- 
out waiting for orders from the bridge, he 
dropped it just in time to check the headway 
and save the dock. Graves was able to back 
away, using one engine and dragging the 
anchor. 


90 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


In two or three minutes she was clear of all 
dangers. In half an hour Graves had her 
safely alongside the dock. 

When an accident like this happens, a board 
of investigation is always ordered — and one 
convened on the flagship next day. Graves 
was summoned as the first witness. 

‘‘ Who was conning when the ship rammed 
the launch? ” asked the recorder after several 
other questions. 

“ I was,” answered Graves manfully. He 
did not mention the Captain. Long after- 
wards he was glad he had not. 

Consequently, when the board called the 
Captain, they did not question him fully on 
this point — assuming that if Graves claimed 
the honor it was undoubtedly his ! The report 
that went on to Washington was by no means 
flattering to the navigator. 


CHAPTER VII 
BEHIND THE FOG 

' i ^HE coaling, once begun, proceeded rap- 
idly, and was finished that night. Late 
in the afternoon Graves was standing on the 
boat deck, overlooking the deck where coaling 
was in progress. He was in overalls ; his face 
suggesting Mr. Bones of the minstrel troupe. 
When he rolled his eyes the whites showed 
comically against the black dust all round 
them. 

During a lull in the noises of coaling, he 
heard the sound of raised voices. Rostov was 
talking to a man whom he recognized as Ches- 
ter, a young seaman training to be gunner’s 
mate. 


91 


92 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“Drop that gun cover!’’ Rostov said with 
an oath. “ I tell you, I want you to sweep 
this coal away! ” 

“ But, Chief,” the boy said, looking worried, 
“ Mr. Long told me to fix this gun cover right 
away.” 

Rostov swore at him again. 

“All right!” he said; “come to the mast 
and I’ll fix you” 

Graves, who was officer of the deck, and 
who had been unnoticed, waited to see what 
would happen. In a few minutes Rostov ap- 
proached, followed by the youngster, who 
looked more worried than ever. 

“ Mr. Graves,” said Rostov with dignity, 
“ I’ve got to report this fellow for interfering 
with coaling and for swearing at me.” 

“ How is that? ” asked Graves quietly. 

“ Why, sir, he was standing about doing 
nothing, and I told him to sweep up the loose 
coal. ‘ I won’t do it ! ’ he says ; and he swore at 
me, too. Then I brought him to the mast.” 


BEHim THE FOG 


93 


Chester denied the charge, of course; but if 
a chief petty officer wishes to abuse his au- 
thority, his word goes further than a seaman’s. 
Chester saw himself facing a term in the brig. 

Then Graves burst forth. 

“ Rostov! This is a trumped-up report and 
you ought to be court-martialed for it. I 
heard enough of this conversation myself to 
know the thing wasn’t as you say. Get back 
to your work — and if ever I hear again of 
your making trouble for this lad I’ll see that 
you lose your rating ! ” 

Graves was troubled by being too good-na- 
tured. 

Rostov departed with a wicked gleam in his 
eyes. Chester also left without a word; but 
Graves knew from his glance that he had made 
a friend. 

Next day was spent in cleaning ship — a 
very necessary operation; but by five o’clock 
the decks were dried do^vn and the ship was 
spotless. ‘‘ All hands ” were called; the lines 


94 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


were cast off, and the Greenville passed down 
Raccoon Strait towards the Golden Gate. 

As they steamed in the spring sunshine be- 
tween Belvedere and Angel Island all in 
green, a motor-boat ran out to meet them. In 
the bow were a large barking collie and a 
small black spaniel, his head cocked on one 
side. In the stern, in pink and purple sweat- 
ers, were two girls, one of them Alice Barstow. 
Graves waved his hat; Alice waved her hand; 
and three blasts of the shrill launch whistle 
sounded a greeting to the Greenville. 

Graves long carried that picture in his mind 
— the wise-looking black dog, the barking 
white and tan, and the girls waving a good- 
bye to the ship sailing to the Unknown. 

The Greenville passed out between the 
capes and over the bar, and night settled 
down. About ten o’clock, when Pigeon Point 
light was on the bow, a lookout reported a 
small boat almost ahead. Current was turned 
on the search-light, and the light was turned 


BEHIND THE FOG 


95 


on the boat, which seemed to be some fisher- 
man’s skiff adrift. 

“Mind your course!” shouted Graves to 
the man at the wheel. “ Look how you’ve let 
her yaw! You’re headed in almost for the 
light.” 

“ I’m right on now, sir,” answered the man, 
who was steering by compass. “ The glare 
from the search-light’s bothering me.” 

“Turn it off!” ordered the officer of the 
deck. The small boat disappeared in the 
darkness. 

Graves strode over to the compass. 

“ Look at you! ” he exclaimed to the helms- 
man. “ You were so much interested in that 
boat that you got ten degrees off! Look at 
the compass now! Bring the ship back to her 
course!” 

The man mumbled something and put his 
helm over. 

After getting a good fix off Point Concep- 
tion next morning. Graves laid a course across 


96 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

the Santa Barbara Channel. A fog was set- 
ting in. 

“ How about Richardson’s Rock? ” asked 
the Captain anxiously. “ Will your course 
clear it well? ” 

“Oh, yes!” answered Graves. “We go 
three miles to seaward of it. Here’s where we 
are, sir — and this is the line we are steering 
on.” He showed Barstow the position and his 
course line on the chart. The Captain checked 
the course with his parallel rulers, then meas- 
ured the distance between that and the dan- 
gerous rock which rises out of the sea in the 
track of coasting vessels. 

“ Yes,” he announced, “ this ought to clear 
it well, even if the current sets us down a 
little.” 

“ I’ll take soundings, too. Captain. If by 
any accident we get too close they will show 
it.” Graves laughed and turned back to the 
chart. 

“ That hardly seems necessary,” said Bar- 


BEHIND THE FOG 


97 


stow. “ But you can’t be too careful.” He 
shivered and buttoned his overcoat to shut out 
the cold, foggy air. 

During this run the electricians were testing 
the search-light and other electrical mecha- 
nism about the bridge, turning current on and 
off as they proceeded. 

Several times Graves had Rostov go aft to 
take soundings, and each time got the report, 
“No bottom.” Soundings are taken with a 
machine that lowers into the water, by means 
of piano wire, a tube lined inside with a chem- 
ical and open at one end. The pressure of the 
water forces it up into the tube a distance cor- 
responding to the depth reached. The greater 
the depth the greater the pressure and the 
higher the water level inside the tube. The 
chemical is discolored by the water to the 
height that the water has reached; and this 
height of discoloration, measured on a scale, 
gives the depth. 

By eleven o’clock the fog was very thick. 


98 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OKDERS 

Rostov had been doing well as Chief Quar- 
termaster, and showed his familiarity with the 
sounding machine. When the fourth sound- 
ing was taken, Richardson’s Rock should have 
been three miles away and almost abeam. As 
this was the critical time. Graves himself went 
aft to see the sounding taken. Rostov, being 
busy with the machine, did not see him. 

Rostov hauled up the tube, took it from its 
case, and applied it to the scale, with Graves 
looking over his shoulder. 

“Report 125 fathoms!” Rostov called to 
the messenger boy. 

“ What’s that? ” shouted Graves at his ear. 
“ Let’s see that again ! It looked to me 
like ” 

“Why, it’s seventy fathoms, sir!” cried 
Rostov, looking surprised and abashed as he 
read the scale again and saw Graves at his 
elbow. “ My mistake, sir! ” 

Graves did not stop to discuss the point, but 
started for the bridge on the run. If the 


BEHIND THE FOG 


99 


sounding was only seventy fathoms they were 
quite too close to Richardson’s Rock. 

“Stop both engines!” he shouted as he 
reached the bridge. 

The ship slowed down and lay rolling in the 
trough of the sea. 

At this moment a gust of wind cleared away 
the fog for a few hundred yards ahead. Ris- 
ing out of the sea, not fifty yards from the 
bow, was a black, jagged, and sinister mass of 
rock. The ocean swell surged against it, send- 
ing masses of spray across its top. 


CHAPTER VIII 
THE DANCING COMPASS 
HE sound of engine-room gongs brought 



the Captain and the Commander on the 
bridge. 

“ What’s all this? ” asked Barstow breath- 
lessly. 

“ Nothing much, Captain,” replied Latch, 
who had arrived a moment sooner. “ It seems 
that Richardson’s Rock got in the way and 
nearly got hit. Luckily for the rock the fog 


lifted.” 


The Captain turned reproachfully on 
Graves. 

“ What’s the matter, Mr. Graves? Did you 
apply the deviation wrong again? ” 

“Captain!” exclaimed Graves, “I simply 


100 


THE DANCING COMPASS 


101 


don’t understand it. I thought we would clear 
the rock by three miles — and you checked the 
course, you remember.” 

“ Your fix off Point Conception must have 
been wrong,” suggested Latch angrily. 

“ I got bearings on three points there,” said 
Graves, “ and the intersections agreed per- 
fectly. They put us just where I expected to 
be by the run from the last fix.” 

Kellam, who was officer of the deck, said 
nothing all this time; but he was listening 
with the peculiar expression Graves had no- 
ticed before. 

‘‘ No trouble about the fix this time,” re- 
marked Latch. “ We know now exactly 
where we are — almost on top of Richardson’s 
Rock. We couldn’t have a better fix! ” He 
looked at Graves with a sardonic smile. 

The gongs sounded again, and the Green- 
ville moved slowly away from the forbidding 
rocky mass. 

“ Go down, Mr. Graves,” said the Captain, 


102 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ and check all your figures. See if you can 
find where the trouble was.” 

Graves remained a long time in the chart 
house. Lunch time came, but he had no wish 
to eat. It was difficult to “ can care ” this 
time! Finally he went back to the bridge, 
where the Captain was still standing guard. 
The fog had lifted, the sky was blue, the sea 
was smooth. 

“ I have been over everything. Captain. I 
can’t find any mistake. The corrections were 
applied right and the line was laid off right.” 

“ Perhaps your corrections were wrong.” 

“ I checked that by an azimuth just before 
the fog shut in.” 

A navigator can tell what the correction to 
his compass should be by taking an “ azi- 
muth,” or compass bearing of the sun. As- 
tronomers have determined the direction (or 
bearing) of the sun for every instant of time, 
and have made up tables from which, if the 
right time is known, this bearing can be taken. 


THE DANCING COMPASS 103 

Now if the navigator takes a bearing with his 
compass, noting the time, and compares this 
bearing of the sun with that given in the tables, 
the difference is the correction that must be 
applied to the compass. Sometimes he 
“ swings ship ” and works out these correc- 
tions for a number of different headings. 

“ If you did that,” said the Captain, “ there 
must be an ocean current here stronger than 
the Gulf Stream!” He turned on his heel 
and started pacing up and down to work off 
his nervousness. This frenzied navigation was 
trying. 

“ Turn-to ” had gone after the crew’s din- 
ner, and the electrician was again working 
with the search-light. Graves, trying not to 
feel dejected, stood over the compass, when 
suddenly he heard the harsh crackling that fol- 
lows the turning on of current on a projector. 
At the same instant, to his amazement, the 
compass seemed to jump twenty degrees — 
and the patient helmsman, who thought the 


104 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

ship had yawed, put his helm over to follow 
the needle. A moment before Richardson’s 
Rock had been astern. It was now on the 
quarter. 

“Look at this, Captain!” shouted Graves. 
“ When the current’s turned on the search- 
light the compass jumps. They were work- 
ing on it before we got to the rock — and the 
compass was wrong half the time ! ” 

“ Impossible! ” exclaimed the Captain, hur- 
rying to the binnacle. “ We’ve had no trouble 
like that before.” 

“ No, sir — this is the first run it has hap- 
pened on. But see again ! ” 

As he spoke, the electrician working above 
turned the current off. The compass jumped 
back, and the helmsman obediently followed 
it. Richardson’s Rock, still dimly visible, was 
again astern. 

“ Well, well! ” said the Captain, “ that’s the 
nigger in the woodpile! This time it wasn’t 
your fault at all. But what an extraordinary 


THE DANCING COMPASS 


105 


thing. Electrician! ” he hailed the man above, 
“ come down here! ” 

The electrician descended and Graves ex- 
plained to him what had happened. 

“The current is moving the compass!” he 
said. 

It is well known that if a wire conducting 
an electrical current is brought near a compass 
it will cause the needle to deviate. There are, 
of course, two wires — one leading to the light, 
the “ positive ” wire, the other from it, the 
“ negative ” wire. Current in the positive 
wire causes the needle to move one way, that 
in the negative wire the other. 

“ But this current can’t have any effect, 
sir,” objected the electrician. “ It’s true the 
wires are led up the rigging on the side of the 
compass — but the two wires are together — 
side by side along the shroud. The effect of 
one exactly neutralizes that of the other ! ” 

“ Investigate! ” ordered the Captain, “ and 
see if you can find the cause of the trouble.” 


106 SAILING TJNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


The man walked over to the rigging and 
looked at the wire. Then he walked to the 
other side and gave a low whistle. 

“ Somebody’s been tampering with these 
wires!” he reported. “The lead has been 
changed; and now the positive’s on one side 
and the negative on the other. No wonder 
the compass jumps I ” 


CHAPTER IX 


THE CABIN DANCE 

TT was an easy matter to change one wire 
back and to correct the trouble; but the 
question remained: who had done this thing, 
and why? 

However, the ship proceeded without 
further incident to San Diego. Early the fol- 
lowing morning she glided past the treacher- 
ous kelp fields at the entrance, past the bell 
buoy and under high Point Loma, and to- 
wards the hills on which the lazy California 
sun was already brightening the green. 

As the ship was awaiting a telegram from 
Washington, the officers had a chance to go 
ashore. San Diego in spring was delightful 
— and particularly Coronado Beach, with its 
hotel, gardens, tennis courts, and swimming 
pool. 


107 


108 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

The young paymaster was as much pleased 
as anyone — all the more since his uniform at- 
tracted flattering notice. Being a young man 
of initiative, he decided to give a dance on 
board, and mentioned this plan at mess table. 
His announcement was received with ap- 
plause. 

“ Why don’t you make it a dinner dance? ” 
suggested Graves, winking at Long. 

“ There’s no room to dance here,” replied 
Pay, who did not know that shipboard danc- 
ing was always on deck. “ The chairs and 
tables take up all the room.” 

“ But it’s different in the cabin,” suggested 
Graves. 

“ The cabin? Where Mr, Barstow lives? ” 

“Yes; don’t you know,” put in Long, 
winking back at Graves, “ any officer can use 
the cabin? It’s public property. You don’t 
suppose the Captain has all that space to him- 
self when you have only your stateroom? ” 

“ It doesn’t seem fair,” agreed Pay, in his 


THE CABIN DANCE 


109 


businesslike way; “but there are some queer 
things in the Navy.” 

“ The thing for you to do,” continued Long, 
“ is to take over the cabin for whatever even- 
ing suits you best, and order the bandmaster 
to be on hand with plenty of ragtime and jazz. 
The Captain will have to get out.” 

“Jazz?” asked Pay doubtfully. 

“ Oh, yes! The girls here like jazz music. 
You’ll have to order plenty of root beer for 
the band.” 

“Or ginger-ale,” suggested Graves; “at 
least a barrel, I should say.” 

By this time everybody at table was laugh- 
ing, except Pay, who was intent on his plans. 

“ Where will the Captain go that evening?” 
Pay had decided that he wanted the cabin. 

“ Well, of course,” replied Graves, “ it is 
usually better to ask the Captain to the din- 
ner; but if he doesn’t dance, or if you think the 
presence of an old man would be a damper, 
you can turn your stateroom over to him.” 


110 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ But you know, Pay,” explained the Chief 
Engineer, ‘‘ it’s up to you to make him com- 
fortable. He may want some furniture moved 
from the cabin into your stateroom. Just tell 
the steward to move anything you think the 
Captain would like.” 

The idea of a dance had been suggested to 
Pay by Miss Rand, a little college girl at home 
for the Easter vacation. She directed him to 
ask six of her girl friends, two young men 
from Coronado, and four of the wardroom 
mess. She insisted, however, that the Captain 
should not be invited, as he was too old and 
serious for a dinner dance. 

Pay had selected Friday as the day most 
convenient to Miss Rand. On Wednesday he 
told the Bandmaster to be on hand Friday 
night with all the band and plenty of dance 
music. 

The Bandmaster scented a joke and showed 
no surprise. 

“ Where shall we play, sir? ” 


THE CABIN DANCE 


111 


“ In the after cabin. We must have room 
around the table for dancing. By the way, 
I’ve ordered a couple of kegs of root beer. 
The band may be thirsty.” 

The Bandmaster seemed to be having a rush 
of blood to the head, but was very respectful. 
He had never before heard of a dance around 
the cabin table while the band played and 
drank root beer in the after cabin. Moreover, 
his orders always came from the Captain or 
the Executive Officer. But he offered no ob- 
jections. 

Pay also told the Captain’s Japanese stew- 
ard to make all preparations for a dinner for 
fourteen and to move the Captain’s easy chair 
into the Pay Officer’s stateroom. 

“ He can move anything else he wants,” 
added Pay thoughtfully. ‘‘ I want to make 
him comfortable.” 

‘‘ Captain tell you tell me dat? ” asked the 
steward, much puzzled. “ He tell me noth- 
ing ’bout all dat.” 


112 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“Oh, that’s all right!” said Pay. “I 
haven’t told him yet. But be sure to have a 
good dinner.” The steward made some inar- 
ticulate Japanese sound, drew back, looked at 
the Paymaster in amazement, and hurried 
away. 

The mess took a great interest in all the 
preparations, and offered many suggestions. 

“ Do the ship credit, Pay,” insisted Graves. 
“ Tell the steward to bring out the best he has. 
The Captain is expected to furnish a fine din- 
ner on such occasions. At dinners like this 
we always use the silver service presented by 
the city of Greenville.” 

“And now that prohibition is on,” added 
Jacklin, “ we use the punch bowl for soup — a 
much better use to put it to, don’t you think. 
Doctor? ” 

“ Much better. Just the right size for a 
dinner like this.” 

At this point Graves and Long started a 
lively argument. Graves urged that the offi- 


THE CABIN DANCE 


113 


cers should wear swords, but Long thought 
they would be in the way. They finally 
agreed to leave the matter to the excellent 
judgment of the host. 

Pay had decided to show the Captain every 
courtesy, and had even ordered flowers to be 
put in his own stateroom while the Captain 
was there. He had intended to speak to “ Mr. 
Barstow” Thursday; but unluckily the Cap- 
tain was away that day and most of Friday. 
It was not until five o’clock in the afternoon, 
after a final conference with Estelle Rand — 
who. was looking excited and pretty — that Pay 
himself returned to the ship. The Captain 
came aboard soon afterwards — accompanied 
by a distinguished-looking person whom he 
treated with high respect. 

Pay hurried in to see him. To his surprise, 
the steward had, as yet, made no preparations 
for the dinner. The table was still of the usual 
size, just big enough for four. 

“ You see. Admiral,” the Captain was say- 


114 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

ing in a low, earnest tone as Pay entered, “ we 

haven’t a very large force, but ” He 

looked up at Pay, who had just been an- 
nounced. “ Well, Mr. Stepps,” he asked 
shortly, “ is it something urgent? ” 

Pay was a little taken aback by his manner. 
The Captain seemed to be in one of his nerv- 
ous moods, and also in a hurry. The presence 
of the stranger complicated matters. Pay 
also caught sight of the steward peeping out 
from the Captain’s stateroom as if interested 
in what was about to happen. 

“ Oh — ah — Captain,” stammered Pay, “ I 
just wanted to tell you that I am giving a din- 
ner dance in the cabin to-night, and ” 

“A dinner dance where?"" shouted Captain 
Barstow, as if suddenly electrified. The vis- 
itor looked at the young man with his eyes 
fixed and his mouth half open. 

“ Why — in the cabin, sir,” faltered Pay. 
“ Your steward knows all about it. I’ve had 
my stateroom fix^d up for you. Captain; and 


THE CABIN DANCE 


115 


if there’s anything you want, please let me 
know. Some young ladies are coming off to a 
dinner dance.” 

The visitor had his handkerchief to his 
mouth, and was shaking violently. A stifled 
sound came from the stateroom. 

You — have — invited — some — young ladies 
— off — to a — dinner dance — in this — cabin?'" 
repeated the Captain slowly. He suddenly 
pressed a button, and the orderly appeared. 

‘‘ Orderly, tell the doctor I want to see him 
right away! ” 

The visitor leaned over and whispered 
something. 

“ Never mind the doctor, orderly,” cor- 
rected the Captain. “ Tell Commander Latch. 
Mr. Stepps, I’ll send for you in a few min- 
utes.” 

Pay retired, more confused than ever. Be- 
sides, the interview had been unsatisfactory. 
The presence of this stranger bothered him. 
Suppose the Captain had invited him to din- 


116 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

ner? And, it occurred to Pay, where was the 
Captain going to dine? 

He glanced at the deck clock and suddenly 
turned cold. It was almost six o’clock. Es- 
telle and her friends would arrive in ten min- 
utes — and nothing was ready ! 

He hurried down to consult Graves. Pass- 
ing through the wardroom he was surprised to 
see the table set and handsomely decorated, as 
if for a large dinner. 

“ Oh, that’s all right! ” Graves said when he 
heard Pay’s story. “ Skippers are often pee- 
vish when they have to leave the cabin. Just 
stand on your rights and insist.” 

“ That’s what I’ll do! ” echoed Pay, with a 
sinking sensation. “ The girls will be here in 
a minute. What’s the dinner in the ward- 
room? ” 

‘‘ Perhaps Latch or somebody else you 
didn’t ask is giving a party there.” 

Just then the orderly appeared. He was 
grinning. 


THE CABIN DANCE 


117 


“ The Captain sends his compliments, sir, 
and says he’s very sorry, but he’ll need the 
cabin himself to-night.” 

Several heads were sticking out from state- 
room doors. 

Pay hurried off, cold perspiration on his 
forehead. He passed Latch, who had on his 
best uniform. To his consternation, before he 
had reached the cabin, he heard feminine 
voices at the gangway and recognized Estelle 
Rand’s. As she stepped gaily aboard, the 
band, stationed just over the wardroom, 
crashed into a one-step. 

Graves overtook Pay near the cabin door. 

“ Say, old man!” he suggested merrily. 
“ I’ve just seen Latch, and he says his crowd 
have disappointed him. Everything’s ready 
for a fine dinner in the wardroom ; and he says 
you are to give your dinner there! ” 


CHAPTER X 
THE VANISHING INTRUDER 


HE dinner went off merrily; indeed, as 



^ Estelle and her friends said on leaving, 
the Paymaster’s party .was lovely. It was 
most fortunate, all agreed, that the Com- 
mander’s fourteen guests had failed him. 

As the party was leaving. Graves noticed 
four red lights in the rigging on the Green- 
ville, and the same display on the Frederick, 
an armored cruiser in the harbor. The red 
lights on the other ship were a “ call,” show- 
ing that she wanted to send a signal; and the 
Greenville's answer showed that she was ready 
to receive it. Graves, stopping by the gang- 
way, read the signal that followed. Kellam 
and Jacklin, who were on deck, read it too. 

“ 7 — 9 — 5 — 4,” read off Graves. “ Wonder 


118 


THE VANISHING INTEUDER 119 

what that means? Let’s look it up, fellows — 
I have a code-book in my stateroom.” 

The other two followed him down, and he 
produced the book from under his mattress, 
where he had hidden it. 

“ Commanding officer repair aboard! ” read 
off Graves. “ Must be something about our 
orders ! ” He slipped the code-book back un- 
der the mattress. “ I certainly wish we would 
start.” 

“ They needn’t stick here on my account,” 
agreed Jacklin. 

Kellam compressed his thin lips and said 
nothing. The young men passed out through 
the wardroom. Half an hour later there was 
another signal that Graves, impatient to learn 
the news, again read and went down to look 
up. By this time the wardroom was dim, with 
all lights off except one — ^which left the pas- 
sage, where the staterooms were, almost dark. 
It seemed to him, as he came down the ladder, 
that a form glided out from his room and dis- 


120 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


appeared by another ladder leading to a store- 
room below. The passageway was between 
the two ladders, one leading up, the other 
down. This second was the only way of get- 
ting to or from the storerooms. 

Graves hurried to his stateroom, which was 
just opposite the storeroom hatch, switched on 
the light, and looked in. Though nothing 
seemed to have been disturbed, he then hur- 
ried down to the storeroom to see who the in- 
truder was. To his astonishment no one was 
there! Certainly, no one had come up the 
ladder again, and he could see no opening or 
door by which any person might have disap- 
peared. He climbed slowly up again, turn- 
ing over the incident in his mind. Was he be- 
ginning to see things? He smiled to himself 
at the question. Surely he had seen someone 1 
— and ghosts do not haunt men-of-war. 

All this time he had forgotten the signal he 
had come down to look up — “ 2215.” What 
could that mean? 


THE VANISHING INTEUDEE 121 

He reached under the mattress for the book. 
It was not there! 

“ I thought I had put it back! ” he said to 
himself. Then he looked on the bunk, on the 
desk — everywhere. He turned back the mat- 
tress completely. No book was there. Some- 
body had stolen it! 

No one could have come up the storeroom 
ladder without attracting his attention. But 
he had looked in every corner below, and it 
seemed impossible that any person could have 
been there when he arrived. 

He went up on deck, his head in a whirl. 
Since the loss of a code-book is a serious mat- 
ter, he would be blamed — perhaps court-mar- 
tialed. 

The first officer he met was Kellam, who had 
just come up the engine-room hatch. 

‘‘ Jack! ” he cried. “ You know that code- 
book we were looking at a few minutes ago? ” 

“ Yes,” said Kellam; “ the one you put un- 
der your mattress? ” 


122 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“Well — it’s gone! Somebody has stolen 
it!” 

For all the expression in Kellam’s eyes they 
might have been made of china. 

“ Did anyone know it was there besides us 
three? Perhaps your mess attendant ” 

“He never turns the mattress over; and 
he’s as honest as he’s stupid. Besides — he’s 
on liberty to-night.” 

Kellam shook his head. 

“ It’s a bad business' losing a code-book. 
Yost, on the Frederick, got a court for doing 
that. Your father wouldn’t like to see you 
court-martialed, Graves!” 

“ There’s something extraordinary about it. 
I saw a man coming out of my room. He 
went down the storeroom hatch — and went up 
in smoke ! When I got there a moment latei’, 
he was gone.” 

“ That’s the strangest thing I ever heard of! 
Let’s go down. Graves, and search the place. 
Perhaps there’s another way out.” 


THE VANISHING INTEUDER 123 

The two young officers went below and 
made a thorough search of the storeroom. No 
trace could they find of the thief, spy, or in- 
truder. The room was enclosed by four thin 
steel partitions or “ bulkheads,” with steel 
decks above and below. Underfoot, part of 
the deck was covered with linoleum. Kellam 
even lifted this to look for a manhole, but 
none was visible, as Graves could see from 
across the storeroom. 

“ You must have been dreaming. Graves. 
No man could have come down here. There’s 
absolutely no place for him to hide.” 

“ It beats me! ” said Graves; “ but I believe 
Rostov or one of his crowd is mixed up in it. 
What are those fellows here for, anyway? ” 

“ They seem to be doing all right. Your 
Chief Quartermaster understands his job. I 
like to have some men on board who know how 
to assert themselves — I hate your obsequious 
kind!” 

Kellam looked as if he meant what he said. 


124 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 


Graves reported his loss to the Captain, who 
looked very serious about it. 

“Are you sure you didn’t leave the book 
outside somewhere — on the wardroom table or 
on deck? Who would have known the book 
was under your mattress? And how could 
anybody go down into a storeroom and vanish 
like a soap bubble? ” 

“ I’m as much puzzled as you are, Captain. 
But I didn’t leave the book around anywhere, 
sir.” 

“ Well, try to find it. Of course the De- 
partment will have to know, if it is lost.” 

“It’s one thing after another!” thought 
Graves as he left the cabin. “ But I’m not 
going to worry myself sick over what I can’t 
help.” He looked up Long, and in ten min- 
utes was laughing over something that had 
happened a year ago. 

Next morning the ship was humming. Or- 
ders had come, and the Greenville was to get 


THE VANISHING INTEUDER 


125 


under way at two o’clock. Every man in the 
crew was eager to heave up anchor and begin 
the adventure. 

About ten o’clock a shore boat came along- 
side, bringing a passenger with two trunks. 
The new arrival was tall, with bushy hair on a 
large head, and with a long, thin nose. He 
wore eye-glasses attached to a cord around his 
neck, and looked through them with an air of 
knowledge, which was increased by the half- 
smile about his lips. 

“ Who is this man? ” asked Graves. 

“ He is a college professor they are sending 
to go along with us. He says he makes socio- 
logical studies.” 

“What’s that?” asked Graves, laughing. 

“ Ask him. He says he means to study 
people; but I don’t know whether it’s us or 
some other wild men.” 

At luncheon that day Graves started a con- 
versation with the “ Professor.” Some of 
his best friends were college professors, and 


126 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

fine fellows, too — but this was a different sort 
of professor. He wanted to criticize every- 
thing and everybody, with the air of superior 
information that Graves had quickly noticed. 
He had decided opinions, and seemed eager to 
express them. His laugh was never hearty, 
and his smile was a muscular movement of the 
lips. 

“ How do you like San Diego? ” asked 
Graves affably. 

“ Not at all,” replied the Professor. “ None 
of our American cities are pleasant. They are 
misgoverned and ugly.” 

“ But don’t you think San Diego’s a pretty 
town? — and Coronado? ” 

“What’s pretty about them? I don’t like 
the style of architecture.” 

“ But the gardens, and the palms, and the 
orange trees?” 

“ Oh, yes,” replied the Professor impa- 
tiently, “ the wealthy have them. They ought 
to be seized and turned over to the workers.” 


THE VANISHING INTEIJDEE 


127 


“ They are nearly all workers out here,” re- 
marked Graves. “ Many poor people have 
gardens.” 

“ Why don’t we learn a bit from our 
friends?” the Professor continued. “Some 
form of Bolshevism is what we need. We 
should start by abolishing our so-called gov- 
ernment.” 

“Abolish Congress, and the Courts, and the 
Presidency, and the Constitution of the 
United States ! ” exclaimed Graves, returning 
the Professor’s stare. “ If we need any 
changes can’t we make them in the Constitu- 
tion? ” He raised his voice unawares. 

“ Bosh! ” replied the Professor. “ Half- 
way measures do no good. No real changes 
are made that way.” 

“ How about Prohibition and Woman’s 
Suffrage? Can’t we make any change that’s 
needed in an orderly, decent way? ” 

“ Slaves have no chance to make decent, or- 
derly changes!” 


128 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

“ How about the Fourteenth and Fifteenth 
Amendments? Didn’t they help slaves? ” 

“ Precious little.” The Professor was be- 
ginning to be annoyed. He had come to teach, 
not to be taught. “ You really must excuse 
me. I don’t belong to the army or navy — I 
must begin work!” — and with this parting 
shot the Professor hurried away. 

“ Wizard,” laughed Long as that gentle- 
man disappeared, “ you are a slave and you 
never work ! ” 

“ That’s the kind of slave to be. Prince. 
But thank your stars that you’re not a Parlor 
Bolshevist! ” 


CHAPTER XI 
A EACE FOR PEACE 

"D EFORE going to sea it was necessary to 
take on stores and fresh provisions for 
the voyage. A lighter loaded with barrels, 
boxes, and sides of fresh meat came alongside; 
and an order was given to whip it aboard. 
Only six or eight men responded. The order 
was repeated, and still the men hung back. 

The Chief Boatswain’s Mate approached 
Long, who was officer of the deck and in 
charge of the work. 

“ I don’t know what’s wrong with the men, 
sir,” he complained. “ It’s got me guessing. 
None of them want to do anything — and it’s 
awful hard to round up the ship’s force among 
all these marines.” 

“Who’s that fellow in the gangway?” 

asked Long. “ Why doesn’t he turn-to? ” 

129 


130 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ That’s one of the new crowd that came 
aboard at Mare Island.” 

A moment later the Boatswain’s Mate was 
having an angry discussion with the man, who, 
muttering and sullen, went down into the 
lighter. After a good deal of delay and of 
hunting for individual men, the work was 
started. 

“ There’s something queer about this ! ” re- 
marked Long to Graves, who was looking on 
with interest. “ The men have lost their snap 
since we left San Francisco. Where’s their 
fighting spirit gone? ” 

Graves shook his head, for he was puzzled 
too. Bluejackets seldom need driving if there 
is talk of a fight. 

In consequence of slow work, the ship was 
two hours late in getting under way; but 
finally the bugle sounded, the boatswain mates 
piped in unison, and the word, ‘‘All hands up 
anchor,” was passed about the ship. 

The chain clanked slowly in, the engines be- 


A EACE FOE PEACE 


131 


gan to turn, and the Greenville headed out on 
her unknown voyage. 

Graves was at his station on the bridge. 
Going out of a narrow harbor tests the navi- 
gator’s skill. It seems very simple if all goes 
right; but if any mistake is made the ship 
easily finds the mud. 

Kellam, as Graves noticed, was standing on 
the forecastle, unsmiling and grim — perhaps 
thinking of the unknown enemies he was going 
out to face. He looked at his watch and dis- 
appeared down the forehatch. 

Graves fixed his attention more closely on 
the navigation; the ship was approaching the 
narrow part of the channel near the fort. 

The Captain and Latch were talking to- 
gether near the binnacle. 

“ My guess is,” observed Latch, “ that the 
Oriental Empire is mixed up in this. The 
formation of that new power has made a big 
change in Asiatic politics. We may have to 
fight them some day.” 


132 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ Perhaps so/’ replied the Captain drily, 
chewing nervously on his cigar — he disliked 
going out of harbors almost as much as com- 
ing in — “ it was different in the old days when 
we had only China, Japan, and the Russians 
in Manchuria to consider. Heavens and earth ! 
What’s the matter? ” 

“Left rudder, I tell you!” Graves was 
shouting to the helmsman. “ Give her more 
helm!” 

“ I’m giving her all I can, sir,” panted the 
man, turning his wheel fast, “ but she doesn’t 
answer! ” 

The ship was heading dangerously towards 
the north side of the channel. 

“ Stop, port engine! ” roared Graves. 

If the helm is not working properly, a twin- 
screw ship can be controlled, in a clumsy way, 
by stopping or backing one engine while going 
ahead with the other. 

The danger was averted for the moment; 
but the ship was now yawing towards the op- 


A EACE FOE PEACE 


133 


posite bank. At any moment it might go 
aground. The Captain’s face was gray. 

“I’ll look out up here!” shouted Latch. 
“ Hurry aft, Graves, and see if you can find 
what’s the matter with the steering gear! ” 

“Or the steering engine!” suggested the 
Captain hoarsely. 

On a modern steamer the steering is done by 
a wheel on the bridge much smaller than the 
four-man wheel of old-time ships. This 
wheel does not really move the heavy rudder; 
but by means of connecting rods, leading from 
the bridge to the stem of the ship, it opens and 
shuts valves on an engine near the stern-post; 
and this engine supplies the power that moves 
the rudder. Sometimes the connecting rods 
jam; sometimes the steering engine; some- 
times the rudder itself is unshipped. When 
these things happen the ship goes on a blind 
cruise. 

On the Greenville the steering engine was 
in a compartment just abaft the passageway 


134 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

on which the officers’ staterooms opened, and 
near the hatch opposite Graves’s room leading 
to the storeroom below. 

On his way aft, Graves examined the steer- 
ing connections in several places where they 
were exposed; for sometimes a bluejacket 
hangs his jumper on a rod and causes a jam. 
But, finding nothing of this kind, he knew the 
trouble must be in or near the steering engine- 
room, and ran aft as fast as he could. 

As he reached the foot of the ladder leading 
to the wardroom, he saw a form disappearing 
down the ladder into the storeroom. Still 
running, he reached the steering engine. It 
was hot and greasy and, from time to time, 
rattled with quick turns as the wheel was 
moved on the bridge. Graves made a rapid 
examination — and instantly detected a soft 
wooden wedge that some malicious person had 
stuck between the parts of the machinery, so 
that the tiller could hardly move at all. It 
was the work of a second to jerk it out. 


A EACE FOE PEACE 


135 


What was happening above he could not 
tell; but he had not felt the jar of a grounding. 

Before returning to his station he wanted to 
see that man who had slipped out from the 
compartment and into the storeroom below. 
He tumbled down the ladder as fast as he 
could. Not two minutes had elapsed; but 
again he found only empty walls! 

It was useless to search; for there were no 
dark corners to hide in. It seemed impossible 
that the man had passed up again and out 
through the wardroom. But if not, where 
was he? 

A mess attendant had been at work by the 
wardroom table past which anyone would have 
to go in order to leave the wardroom. 

“ Jose,” asked Graves, “ did a man pass 
here a minute ago? ” 

“ No, sir,” replied the boy, ‘‘ nobody since 
you came down ! ” 

Graves hurried back on deck, deeply puz- 
zled. He found the ship safely past the nar- 


136 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

rows. Latch had handled the engines clev- 
erly, and the danger was over ; but the fact re- 
mained that an effort, almost successful, had 
been made to ground the ship and to delay or 
prevent the expedition. 

The Greenville passed on under Point 
Loma and into the Pacific. Then the Cap- 
tain opened his sealed orders. 

Everyone — or almost everyone — aboard 
was eager to know what these were. Where 
were they going? Was there to be fighting? 
One thing Graves noticed — the ship was head- 
ing south, down along the coast of the Lower 
California peninsula. The officer who showed 
least interest in the news was Kellam, who 
paid no attention to the Paymaster’s latest 
rumors from the galley. 

Finally, at dinner. Commander Latch made 
an announcement. 

‘‘ Gentlemen,” he said, “ I suppose some of 
you are anxious to know to what part of the 
world we are going.” 


A EACE FOE PEACE 


137 


Instantly there was breathless silence. The 
wardroom was more than curious. 

“ The Captain directs me to inform you,” 
continued Latch in his most official tone, 
“ that our destination is Dolorosa Bay ‘ on the 
coast of Lower California. It is, as you all 
know, a strategic point of great importance. 
But we are not the only nation that realizes 
this.” 

“ What have we to do with a bay in Lower 
California? ” put in the Professor. “ That 
belongs to Mexico.” 

“ It did until this year,” replied Latch, 
“ but, as you know, there has been a revolution 
on the Peninsula — and the Oriental Empire 
wants to take advantage of the fact. They 
wish to seize the bay for a base — perhaps to 
use against us.” 

“Nonsense!” replied the Professor in his 
cock-sure tone. “ The only enemies we have 

'This name is fictitious. The scene is laid near the 
important and well-known Magdalena Bay. 


138 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

to fear live on Wall Street. We ought to 
paint our warships white — or red might be 
better — and keep them at home to house our 
workers.” 

Latch paid no attention to the interruption, 
but calmly continued; 

‘‘ If they do seize it they will violate the 
Monroe Doctrine, and it will mean war. This 
is a race for peace. We are trying to get 
there first to prevent war. Twenty-four 
hours’ delay would give them the start and up- 
set all the government’s plans.” 

“ Then,” remarked Graves, “ it’s lucky we 
didn’t ground coming out!” 


CHAPTER XII 

SOLITARY CONFINEMENT 

/GRAVES was about the bridge and chart 
house all night. South of our own bor- 
der there are few lighthouses or other aids to 
navigation along this coast; and after what 
had happened, he was determined to be on the 
bridge whenever needed. From time to time 
he had the quartermaster take soundings to be 
sure, in the darkness, that the ship was not 
getting too near shore. With his night- 
glasses constantly in hand, he kept looking out 
on the port side for unknown dangers. Cap- 
tain Barstow was sleeping fitfully and un- 
comfortably in the chart house; and the Ex- 
ecutive Officer was on the bridge a good part 
of the night. Naval officers and burglars 

learn to go without much sleep. 

139 


140 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


Graves also had a handicap his friends 
ashore would not have suspected. Few per- 
sons feel quite well at sea. Human beings are 
not web-footed and are not really fitted for sea 
life. Some men find, after several years 
afloat, that for them a cruise means constant 
nausea or one long headache. Though 
Graves was not one of these, and had cruised 
many thousands of miles before this voyage 
began, he found nevertheless that he was noth- 
ing more nor less than seasick. But officers, 
unlike passengers, do not stay in their bunks 
and drink tea when bad weather makes them 
sick. It is not easy to work navigation when 
one is yellow and has a headache — but Graves 
paid no attention to his symptoms. 

The course had been laid well off-shore ; and 
in the morning only a few mountain tops haz- 
ily indicated the land on the port side. Graves 
took his morning sight for longitude, and 
found that the result checked with his run 
from San Diego. The navigator cannot 


SOLITAET CONFINEMENT 141 

wholly trust his ‘‘ dead reckoning ” — that is, 
the position fixed by the courses steered and 
the distance on them by patent log. Some- 
times currents have swept the ship to one side, 
or carried her faster, or slower, than was sup- 
posed. Sometimes the compass has been 
wrong, or the helmsman sleepy; perhaps a 
sleepy navigator has applied the deviation the 
wrong way! The only safety is in having as 
many checks as possible. If known objects 
ashore cannot be observed, the navigator gets 
his longitude in the morning and in the after- 
noon from the sun; and his latitude, also from 
the sun, at noon. To check these he often 
takes star sights at twilight and at dawn. 

Then he tries to get their checks. The 
sounding machine gives a warning if the water 
is getting shallow; and he peers into the dark- 
ness for land that ought to be far away. A 
safe navigator is never sure. 

At noon Graves prepared to get his ‘‘ me- 
ridian altitude.” If the altitude is taken ex- 


142 SAILING UNDEB SEALED OBDEES 

actly at noon the navigator, by a simple calcu- 
lation, can tell how far north or south he is. 
If from his morning sight he knows how far 
east or west he is, he Imows where he is — or 
thinks he does. 

Kellam, who was officer of the deck at noon, 
also had a sextant and was watching the sun. 

A fresh breeze was scattering windrift and 
spray. Just at the critical moment, a wave 
struck the bow and salt water rained on the 
bridge. The mirror of the navigator’s sextant 
was covered and his vision was blurred. It 
was after twelve o’clock when he got another 
good reading. 

Kellam had been more lucky. The spray 
had missed him, and he had caught the sun, as 
he wanted, precisely at noon. He glanced at 
Graves, smiled slightly, and went below. 

But a good navigator is prepared for acci- 
dents like this. At two minutes before noon 
Graves had taken and timed an observation. 
By applying certain corrections he found what 


SOLITAEY CONFINEMENT 143 

the altitude would have been if he had got it 
exactly at noon. 

Twelve o’clock was struck, and soon after- 
wards Kellam was relieved. He and Graves 
ate a late lunch together. 

“ Get a good noon position? ” he asked 
Graves, fixing his china eyes on the other. 

“ Think so!” chuckled Graves, helping him- 
self to chicken. “ Here it is. What did you 
get? ” He passed Kellam a slip of paper. 

“ Mine was thirty degrees five minutes 
north,” replied Kellam drily. “ Suppose you 
had to pass in your dead reckoning position. 
But,” he exclaimed, “ this is the same that I 
got!” 

“ Glad it is ! ” remarked Graves, smiling as 
usual. “ That spray almost put me out of 
business.” 

Kellam looked down into his plate and 
made no answer. 


Graves had kept thinking about the mys- 


144 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 


tery of the wardroom storeroom. After get- 
ting his afternoon sight he went down to look 
the ground over again. He certainly did not 
believe in spirits nor even in optical delusions, 
so far as he was concerned. That man had 
gone somewhere. 

He took a hammer down and tapped each 
of the four bulkheads. There was no loose 
plate; and there certainly was no hiding place 
in the storeroom. The largest object was a 
box of oranges behind which the smallest con- 
spirator could not hide. He looked at the 
deck. It was bare metal, except for the strip 
of linoleum, which he lifted. 

No sign of an opening here. Not a mouse, 
hardly an ant, could squeeze between the 
cracks of the floor plates. Bending over, he 
examined more closely. There was absolutely 
nothing to see — except a rivet head somewhat 
out of place, not countersunk, and sticking out 
a little. He touched it with his foot. There 
was a spark, a sudden rattle, a quick move- 


SOLITAEY CONFINEMENT 


145 


ment — and there, right beneath his eyes, was a 
hole big enough for a man to squeeze through ! 

“An electrically worked trap!” he ex- 
claimed out loud. “By Jupiter! I’ll go 
down ! ” 

Leaving his hammer on the deck, he let him- 
self down into the space underneath. The 
strip of linoleum fell back into place; and as 
his foot touched the iron below there was an- 
other sharp sound and the plate snapped back 
to its old position. 

He was a prisoner! For a moment he 
hardly knew where he was; then he realized 
from the smell of damp paint and the arrange- 
ment of the ship’s ribs, or frames, that he was 
in one of the “ double bottoms.” For safety, 
ships have double skins with a space between. 
The outer skin that Graves touched with his 
hands felt cold and wet. He was in the space. 

How was he to get out? No one might 
come down here for days or weeksu Who 
would think of looking for him in such a 


146 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

place? They would miss him, search the ship, 
and decide that he had fallen overboard. He 
felt in his pockets — ^not even a match, not even 
a candle for light or food. And just above, 
all the stores of the wardroom mess ! 

He remembered stories he had read of men 
buried alive or locked up in vaults. A feeling 
of horror came over him, and he found it hard 
to breathe. 

He tried desperately to open the tight-fit- 
ting steel door; but it was flush with the deck, 
and there was nothing to get hold of. A 
spring-lock was holding it, hard and fast. 
Some man with a mechanical bent and a 
knowledge of electricity had arranged a pri- 
vate entrance into the wardroom. But from 
where? There must be some other entrance 
into the compartment. 

Graves felt about with his hands. Some- 
thing soft was almost underfoot. Overhead 
he felt a projecting knob and gave it a twist. 
Instantly the place was flooded with light — 


SOLITARY CONFINEMENT 147 

his hand had touched an electrical switch. 
Under his feet was a suit of overalls, evidently 
used by the regular visitor to save his clothes. 
The idea seemed a good one, and Graves 
pulled the overalls over his own uniform. 
Then he began to crawl through the narrow 
spaces and the holes in the frames. 

The air was very bad and the going rough. 
He scraped the skin off his knees, bruised his 
ankles, and bumped his head; but he managed 
to make some progress. The compartment 
was a small one. After crawling through four 
frames he came up against a bulkhead that 
had no hole in it ! — or rather, there was a man- 
hole, but it was closed by a plate secured on 
the other side. He was in solitary confine- 
ment — and without bread and water or even a 
jailor. 

Graves turned icy cold. He began to feel 
suffocated. He had often heard of men dy- 
ing in the bad air of unventilated compart-^ 
ments — ^but slow starvation would be worse. 


148 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

The feeling of suffocation increased. He 
felt paralyzed, unable to move a limb — and as 
if a great weight was pressing on him. 

As he lay cramped and doubled up in the 
narrow space he rapped with his bare knuckles 
on the plates overhead; then tapped in the 
Morse code on a drain pipe that ran forward. 
But no answer came. When his knuckles 
were raw and bleeding he gave it up. 

Suddenly he had a vision of Alice Barstow’s 
face and the absurd thought of saying, “ Can 
Care ” ten times. 

“ I am canned if Care isn’t ! ” he said to him- 
self — and laughed. He no longer felt suffo- 
cated or cold. His courage revived, and he 
crawled back to look for an exit at the other 
end. 

The only exit was tightly closed. 

“ Well, here I am,” he reflected, “ like a rat 
in a trap — and not even the piece of cheese! If 
I had a wrench I might get out through this 
manhole.” 


SOLITAEY CONFINEMENT 149 

The manhole plate was held in place by 
brass nuts; but they were tightly set up and 
frozen hard. Though he exerted his utmost 
strength, he could not budge one. 

All at once he heard a noise at the opposite 
end of the compartment. Someone was open- 
ing up the connecting manhole. Graves gave 
a shout. 

“ That you, Rost?” called out a rough voice. 
“All right — I’ll go back and get Leof.” Be- 
fore Graves could answer, the man was gone. 
But he had left the manhole open ! 

Graves hastily squeezed through. He now 
found himself in a much larger compartment; 
and from the dull, regular pounding overhead 
he knew it was under the engine-room. But 
in other respects it was like the other. This 
compartment certainly had a manhole con- 
necting with the engine-room; but such man- 
holes are usually clamped down from above. 

There was no light here; but Graves could 
feel his way. 


150 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

Then he heard, clear and distinct, the 
thumping of the engines and the rattle of a 
pump. A drop of oil struck his face. Im- 
mediately over him was a manhole that Leof s 
friend had left open. 

Graves hastened to crawl out, and found 
himself in the engine-room. An oiler was 
standing a few feet away, but merely glanced 
at the new arrival in overalls and continued his 
work. Graves climbed the hot ladder, slipped 
off the overalls, and went back to the ward- 
room. It was dinner time, and he was furi- 
ously hungry. 

No one had noticed his absence. 


CHAPTER XIII 


BAESTOW TAKES A CHANCE 

"/^H! Here you are. Wizard! ” exclaimed 
Long, appearing from his stateroom. 
“Anything doing on deck? Want to make a 
fourth at bridge after dinner? ” 

“ No, thank you. Prince,” replied Graves — 
for once without his smile; “have something 
else to think about.” 

It was queer to be sitting here in the ward- 
room, with Pay and the doctor playing check- 
ers, Jacklin studying a blueprint, and Kellam 
stretched out on a transom reading Carlyle’s 
“ French Revolution” — ^when half an hour be- 
fore he, Wizard Graves, had been facing slow 
death in solitary confinement not fifty feet 
away. He still had his afternoon sight to 
work out, but he wasn’t thinking of naviga- 
tion. 


161 


162 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


Evidently there was a conspiracy on the 
Greenville. Surely Rostov and his mates 
were connected with it — but what end had 
they in view? 

All the same, Graves was able to sleep a few 
hours in the early part of the night, when the 
course lay well off-shore. Whatever troubles 
may loom, it is usually easy to sleep after a 
day and a night’s work; and Graves’s new 
habit of “ canning care ” made this all the 
easier. He decided to report the whole mat- 
ter to Latch; then fell into a deep sleep. To- 
wards midnight he roused up and went on the 
bridge. Clouds had prevented a star sight; 
and in tropical waters sun sights are not al- 
ways reliable. It seemed to his straining eyes 
that some dark masses on the port side looked 
more like mountains than clouds ; but how can 
one be sure on a dark night, with nothing vis- 
ible outside except shadows and streaks of 
heaving foam? There were no lighthouses 
near; and the only possible check was an occa- 


BAESTOW TAKES A CHANCE 163 

sional sounding. But one sounding shows 
where the ship is at one instant — at least, how 
deep the water is — but not where she will be 
the next! The last sounding had shown forty 
fathoms; but there were a hundred forty- 
fathom spots along that stretch of coast. 

Graves remembered a scheme from his 
“ Muir’s Navigation.” He had the quarter- 
master take five soundings fifteen minutes 
apart. After the second the course had been 
changed — but this did not matter. Using the 
scale of the chart, he plotted these five sound- 
ings on a piece of transparent tracing paper — 
a dot for a sounding, a line representing the 
direction and distance to the next, then an- 
other dot — and so on. At each dot he noted 
the number of fathoms found. Then he 
moved his plotted dots and lines about the 
chart until he came to a place on the chart 
where the figures on it corresponded with 
those on the tracing paper above. This 
showed where he was, or gave him a “ fix,” 


164 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

which, he was glad to see, corresponded with 
that from his afternoon sight. The ship was 
still safely off-shore. 

Latch, who had come up to take the night 
air about one o’clock, was an attentive ob- 
server of these proceedings. His official man- 
ner to Graves was still very stiff; but every- 
thing that happened stirred up recollections of 
past experiences. His manner was always 
friendly when talking of these. 

“ That fix you got,” he remarked, sipping 
some cocoa his boy had just brought him, 
“ made me think of the time I was running the 
Mayflower up from Charleston to New York. 
The President was on board — he had been 
shooting ducks down the coast — and he was 
mighty anxious to make New York on time. 
His aid said he had an important appointment 
and would veto the new pay bill if he missed it. 
I didn’t see the sun or a light from the time we 
left Hatteras — and when we got well up the 
Jersey coast a thick fog shut in. I knew 


BARSTOW TAKES A CHANCE 


155 


where we wanted to be, but I had no idea 
where we were; and it wouldn’t help the pay 
bill if we hit Sandy Hook or Coney Island. 

“ Well, I thought I would try your trick — 
take a lot of soundings and plot them. It 
didn’t help a bit, for the soundings along there 
are all about the same. 

“We were creeping along, blowing the fog 
whistle once a minute or oftener; and the 
President was pacing up and down the quar- 
ter-deck like a circus tiger before meal time. 

“All at once I had a bright idea. I had 
read in the sailing directions that the old bed 
of the Hudson River sticks out seaward ten or 
fifteen miles. If you happen to get a sound- 
ing right in it there’s a sudden change of depth 
and you fish up green mud instead of sand. 

“ I kept the machine going as fast as they 
could run it. All at once we got forty fath- 
oms instead of twelve, and a spoonful of green 
mud. I plotted the intersection of our course 
and the Hudson’s in the Second Century, or 


166 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

thereabouts ; and in five minutes we had picked 
up the entrance buoy. The President sent 
me in a brace of his wild ducks, and the pay 
bill was approved the next day.” 

Just at daylight a high point of land was 
sighted, about ten miles away, where Graves 
expected it to be. He recognized it as Cape 
San Lazaro, a high rocky promontory near 
Dolorosa Bay. With his reading glass he 
looked carefully at the chart. No outlying 
dangers were shown, and there was plenty of 
water to within a quarter of a mile from shore. 

He glanced towards the bow, where little 
ripples of foam showed in the soft morning 
light, and at the wavelets beyond. Directly 
ahead were some other ripples and a dark 
mass like floating weeds. 

“ That can’t be anything,” he said to him- 
self, “ but better not take a chance. Hard 
left rudder! ” 

The bow swung over. As it did so they 


BAESTOW TAKES A CHANCE 157 

passed the dark object close abeam. It was a 
“ pinnacle rock,” sticking just out of the 
water like a church spire, waiting through the 
ages to wreck some ship. It so happened that 
no survey had ever revealed it. 

“ Never trust a compass, or a chart, or your 
own eyes at sea ! ” said Graves to himself. 
“ Gee whiz! I’m glad I put the helm over! ” 

Graves wanted to stop to take soundings 
and to fix the position of the rock exactly ; but 
Latch, who was still on the bridge, told him 
not to lose a moment. 

“We must get there first,” he said. “ ‘ Pos- 
session is nine points of the law.’ Any other 
ships in sight? ” 

“ Don’t see any,” replied Graves, gazing 
through his binoculars. “ But hello ! What’s 
that to the westward? ” 

Latch squinted through the high-powered 
long glass. 

“ It’s smoke! ” he declared. “ I think I can 
make out four smoke columns.” 


158 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“Then it’ll be four to one!” observed 
Graves. 

“ We’re not fighting them yet,” replied 
Latch. “ This is a peace mission. But we 
must arrive first.” 

In an hour it was evident that the other 
ships were overhauling them. Their masts 
and the top of their smoke-stacks were now 
visible with the glass. The Greenville was 
making her top speed; and the bridge was vi- 
brating violently from the swift turning of the 
engines. 

The other ships and the Greenville were 
steering on converging courses for the en- 
trance. Owing to a shoal that jutted out, it 
was necessary to make a wide detour to reach 
this. 

Latch, whose eyesight was keen, took an- 
other long look through the high-powered 
glass. 

“ The Orientals ! ” he exclaimed. “ Four 
of those new ships we saw at Honolulu I ” 


BAESTOW TAKES A CHANCE 169 

*‘Just what I suspected!” exclaimed the 
Captain. “ They are beating us! ” he added, 
in a tone of despair. “ If they get in first and 
seize the village, we can’t dislodge them with- 
out fighting.” 

With the glasses it was now easy to make 
out the colors of the Oriental Empire — the 
white field, with the dragon across it, and the 
red and yellow stripes — and also an admiral’s 
flag on the mast of the leading ship. Evi- 
dently the squadron was much faster than the 
Greenville, and would reach the entrance 
ahead of them. 

Latch was inspecting the newcomers more 
closely. “They are cleared for action!” he 
exclaimed eagerly. “ Shall we do the same. 
Captain? ” The light of battle was in his 
eyes. 

“ Not yet,” said Barstow, shifting uneasily 
from one foot to the other. He had no fear of 
fighting, but he hated responsibility. If he 
let the Orientals seize the base, the Depart- 


160 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 


ment would blame him; if he fired a shot, the 
pacifists would blame him. He really did not 
know which leg to stand on. 

Latch whispered something to the Captain 
and looked at Graves as if he blamed him for 
being late. 

“ He knows I’m a lobster,” thought Graves. 
“ I suppose he thinks I’ve been zigzagging all 
the way from San Diego.” 

Meanwhile he was studying the chart. 

“ Captain ! ” he exclaimed, “ if you want to 
take a chance, I believe we can beat those fel- 
lows. There’s a sort of channel inside this 
shoal. If we can get through it without stick- 
ing, we cut off three or four miles. Of course 
the markings can’t be depended on; but by 
watching the soundings, looking out from aloft 
for shoal spots, and twisting like a snake, we 
ought to get through all right. We must 
keep dead in the middle here.'^ He showed a 
place where the deep water was less than fifty 
yards wide. “ It’s a regular short-cut, sir. 


BAESTOW TAKES A CHANCE 161 

Shall we try it ? ” He straightened up from 
the chart and looked at the Captain. 

Barstow groaned. To arrive first would 
mean success, and would probably prevent a 
losing fight. To attempt the “ wildcat ” 
channel Graves described would risk both the 
ship and its mission. The shoal might have 
shifted, the soundings marked might be 
wrong; without buoys the narrow, twisting 
channel might be impassable. 

He shifted back to the first foot, and raised 
his right shoulder spasmodically. Latch 
turned away with his cynical smile. 

“What shall we do. Captain?” asked 
Graves again. 

Barstow hesitated a moment longer. 

“Very well, Mr. Graves,” he finally replied. 
“ See what you can do.” 

They were taking chances — but now was 
the time to take chances ! 


CHAPTER XIV 

STEERING INTO DANGER 

/GRAVES’S heart was beating double 
time. 

“Left rudder!” he ordered sharply. 
“ Take the helm, Quartermaster — and watch 
your steering! ” 

The entrance to the irregular channel was 
still half a mile away; and Graves was busily 
picking off some distances from the chart and 
figures from a table in his “ Bowditch’s Navi- 
gator.” 

“ How can we possibly squeeze through 
there? ” asked the Captain despairingly, with 
thoughts of that other ship he had grounded. 

“ It looks about wide enough for a skiff! ” 
commented Latch dubiously. 

“ Here’s my sextant,” replied Graves, “ and 

I have danger angles on two white rocks, close 
162 


STEEEING INTO DANGER 163 

inshore, that are marked on the chart. In the 
narrow place I will take the sextant angle be- 
tween those. So long as it is less than ten 
degrees, twelve minutes, and greater than 
eight degrees, fifteen minutes, we are all 
right.” 

“ I’ll watch the angles while you conn. 
Graves,” offered Latch, who was always active 
and who knew how busy the navigator would 
be. He would have to watch the steering, lis- 
ten for the soundings, and keep track of the 
seconds all at once — running forty-five sec- 
onds on one course, a minute on another, and 
so on, until past the narrow places. To run 
like this, without buoys, requires the closest at- 
tention. 

“Look!” cried Latch. “They are flying 
an International Code signal on the Oriental 
flagship.” 

By this code, sailors talking different lan- 
guages can exchange signals. The code-book 
acts as interpreter. 


164 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ Look it up quickly!” ordered the Captain. 

“ ‘ A — N — Q — 7a — You are steering into 
danger! ’ ” read Latch, laughing. “ They 
want to discourage us ! ” 

Evidently the Greenville's manoeuvre had 
caused a commotion on the rival ship. 

“I fear they are right!” sighed the Cap- 
tain. “Answer, ‘ Many thanks.’ ” 

“ Why not add, ‘ Will wait for you in- 
side ’ ? ” suggested Latch jocosely. 

The Captain did not smile. He had visions 
of waiting indefinitely inside the shoal. 

Meanwhile they had reached the entrance. 
Graves stood ready, watch in hand, bending 
over the chart one moment, directing the 
helmsman the next. If he got confused or 
made the slightest mistake, the ship must 
ground ; if he made no mistake, the ship might 
ground. 

Latch was a few feet away, sextant in 
hand. 

Leadsmen were in the “ chains ” to swing 


STEEEING INTO DANGEE 165 

the lead and take soundings by hand. The 
ship drew fifteen feet, or two and a half fath- 
oms — ‘‘and a half two!” as the leadsman 
calls it. 

Graves kept jumping from the wheel to 
the chart-board, from the chart-board to the 
pelorus. The pelorus is a “ dumb ” compass, 
without a needle, used for taking bearings. 

“Mind your course. Quartermaster!” he 
shouted. “We are too much to port.” 

“By the mark five!” sang out the leads- 
man. 

This means five fathoms, or thirty feet. A 
moment before the sounding had been ten 
fathoms. 

“ Discolored water ahead, sir! ” shouted the 
lookout from the crow’s-nest. 

“Right rudder!” ordered Graves. 
“ Steady!” 

Though he realized the danger, his voice was 
firm. “Can care !” — provided one is doing 
one's best. 


166 SAILING IJNDEE SEALED OEDERS 

The Oriental squadron was now almost 
astern. Between them and the Greenville was 
water; but a few feet below the water was sand 
and mud. To the left was a thickly wooded 
bluff; and just opening up beyond the point 
were the red roofs of the village. 

“We are stirring up mud! ” murmured the 
Captain, looking anxiously over the side, 
where thick dark slime was boiling up from 
the bottom. 

“And a half three!” sang out the leads- 
man. 

“Hard right rudder! Quick!” cried 
Graves. 

“By the deep four!” called the leadsman. 
The danger was momentarily past. 

“ Now, Mr. Latch,” requested Graves, 
“ will you start taking angles? ” 

This was the critical moment. There was 
no room on either side. Graves was trying to 
listen to Latch and to the leadsman; to ob- 
serve his watch, and the helm, and the chart — 


STEEEING INTO DANGEE 167 

all at once. “Not more than ten degrees, not 
less than eight degrees ! ’’ he kept repeating to 
himself. 

“Nine degrees five minutes!” called out 
Latch. “ Nine fifty now! ” 

“ By the mark three! ” sang out the leads- 
man. Three fathoms — only three feet to 
spare ! 

“ Right rudder!” ordered Graves in a quick, 
sharp voice. 

There was a soft, gentle sensation under 
foot as if the ship had landed in a bed of feath- 
ers. The engines continued churning, but the 
foam over the side, now black, no longer 
fioated astern. The ship had stopped. 

“ I’m afraid we’re aground, Captain,” said 
Graves quietly. He had done his best. 
“ Stop both engines ! ” he directed. 

The Captain’s knees seemed to give way un- 
der him. 

“ Now see what you have got us into, Mr. 
Graves ! ” he complained. 


168 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ Back, full speed! ” directed Graves. 

For a moment nothing happened; then the 
ship gracefully slipped back into deep water. 

“ Ahead slow! ” ordered Graves. “ What’s 
the reading, Commander? ” 

“ Nine twenty,” reported Latch. It was 
again between ten and eight. “ This chan- 
nel’s hardly the width of your hand. If there’s 
a cross current we must hit the mud. But 
we’ll plough through if necessary and still beat 
those pirates ! ” His eyes were shining. 

Graves chuckled. ‘‘We are half-way 
through the narrowest part ! ” he exclaimed. 

“ But look at their ships! ” said the Captain. 
“ They are getting ahead of us.” 

“ I think not, sir,” remarked Latch. “We 
are still ahead; but at this point the channel 
turns towards them and makes them seem to 
lead. It twists back in a minute.” 

He was right. The next turn made the 
Oriental ships seem almost astern. 

“ By the mark ten ! ” called the leadsman. 


STEEEING INTO DANGEE 


169 


‘‘ Deep water again, Captain! ” said Graves 
enthusiastically. 

“No bottom at twenty! ” 

“ Good for you, Graves ! ” said Latch. 
“ We’ve made it! ” 

Graves was now confident. The channel 
was broadening and getting deeper at the 
same time. 

“ We’ll name this Graves's Channel'' 
laughed Latch. “No man-of-war ever went 
through here before.” 

“And I’ll never go through again! ” sighed 
the Captain. “ I value my commission too 
much. But thank you, Mr. Graves ! ” 

By this time the shoal was on the quarter, 
the ship back in the main channel, and the 
Orientals a good three miles astern. 

“ Have everything ready to land the ma- 
rines ! ” ordered the Captain with new energy. 
“ We’ll have to seize the town the instant we 
get in! ” 

By this time the houses of La Guardia were 


170 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 


plainly in sight, with a crowd of natives, clus- 
tered near the wharf, gazing at the Greenville 
and the Oriental ships astern. 

The second steamer was puffing smoke, and 
the booms and tackle were ready for hoisting 
it out as the anchor struck bottom. Unluckily 
the first steamer, more easily hoisted out by a 
crane, had a broken propeller. Four cutters, 
to be towed by the steamer, were ready for in- 
stant lowering. 

The Orientals were making similar prepa- 
rations. 

Graves steered the Greenville close inshore. 
The Orientals, drawing more water, would be 
forced to anchor further out. 

Latch took the speaking trumpet. 

“ Be ready to hoist out the steamer and 
lower the boats! Stand by the starboard 
anchor! ” 

The propellers stirred up foam and mud, 
the ship started moving astern. 

“Let go the starboard anchor!” shouted 


STEEEING INTO DANGER 


171 


Latch. “ Out steam launch ! Lower away to- 
gether ! 

“ Well, sir,” he said, turning to Ihe Cap- 
tain with a smile, “ we seem to have won the 
race.” 

“Not yet,” demurred Barstow; “whoever 
gets ashore first wins ! ” 


CHAPTER XV 


GRAVES MAKES A FRIEND 
S the anchor splashed down and the chain 



^ ^ rattled out, there was a great creaking 
of pulleys. In five minutes the cutters were in 
the water and manned. 

Meanwhile the officer of the deck was hoist- 
ing out the steamer. Owing to a heavy swell 
the ship was rolling considerably. 

Graves had been busy getting bearings and 
plotting the ship’s anchorage; suddenly he 
heard a commotion and looked up from the 
chart-board. There was a crash as a ventila- 
tor hood came tumbling to the deck. A mo- 
ment later there was another crash and a 
shower of splinters, as the second steamer, sus- 
pended from its boom, swung violently against 
another boat in its cradles. 


172 


GEAVES MAKES A FEIEKD 173 

“ What’s happened? ” asked Graves, thun- 
derstruck, turning to the quartermaster. 

“ They tried to hoist out the steam launch, 
sir, without a steadying line. It’s taken 
charge in this swell, sir, and it’s swinging like 
a house afire.” 

The launch, now free from the boat it had 
crashed into, was making wild swings on 
either side. It seemed only a question of sec- 
onds before the purchase would part and the 
launch would come smashing down on the 
sailors below. The crew had all jumped for 
safety; and the great heavy steamer was 
swinging thirty degrees with each roll of the 
ship. The officer of the deck was helpless; 
and even the orders Commander Latch was 
giving in a loud voice seemed to do no good. 
Now the launch would pause a moment as it 
grazed some obstruction in the middle of its 
dizzy swing — then it would be high in air 
again, with its deck tilted at an alarming 
angle. Two men who had jumped into the 


174 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

water were being hauled aboard. Another 
who had been knocked down was covered with 
blood and was being taken on a stretcher to 
the sick bay, 

“ Bend a line to the launch when it stops 
amidships!” shouted Latch. “Look alive, 
now! Bend it on before somebody gets 
killed!” 

But the launch, with devilish cunning, came 
down past the middle with tremendous 
swoops. There was no time to fasten a line to 
it. If some man had risked his life by remain- 
ing aboard it might have been possible to 
heave him a line — or if someone from deck 
jumped aboard he might catch a line and fas- 
ten it to a ring bolt. But, as in the famous 
Scotch story, nobody wanted to “ bell the cat.” 

“ Quartermaster,” said Graves, “ tell the 
doctor to come up on deck. He may be 
needed.” 

This was true enough, for as the launch 
made a great lurch to port and then another 


GEAVES MAKES A FKIEKD 


176 


to starboard, there was an ominous cracking 
over the heads of the men on deck. At any 
moment the iron hooks and rings by which the 
steamer was suspended might break or open 
out; or the boom itself might tear away. No 
fittings could stand these tremendous jerks 
and swings ; and all the time they were increas- 
ing. 

The steamer made two or three wild fiights ; 
then with malicious perversity seemed almost 
quiet as its keel brushed past the lower boom. 
Then it was off and high in air again. 

The danger of a terrible accident was great; 
but another danger was still greater. While 
precious time was being lost on the Greenville, 
the Orientals were not idle! They had a 
steamer already in the water; and were lower- 
ing and manning their boats. They still 
hoped to be the first ashore. 

Again the great pendulum swung towards 
the deck and grazed the lower boom five or six 
feet above. At this moment a man rushed out 


176 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

from the group astern, seized the iron canopy 
of the launch, swung aboard — and in a mo- 
ment was looking down from a giddy height 
and trying to hold on as the steamer swung to 
port. 

“Hold tight — hold tight!” roared Latch. 
“ Now, men! Throw him a line quickly! ” 

Again the ominous cracking. Boom, pur- 
chase, launch and all might come crashing 
down at any instant. The man in the steamer 
was like an aviator looping the loop ; but there 
were no straps to hold him in place. He was 
gripping the canopy with both hands; but as 
a coil of rope came towards him he let go with 
the right, seized the rope, and made the end 
fast to the ironwork. There was a shout of 
triumph below. 

“ Now, man the line! ” shouted Latch. 

Twenty sailors hauled on it for dear life. 
At first there was a great rush and scramble 
as the mighty force pulled them across the 
deck; but gradually they got control. The 


GEAVES MAKES A FKIEND 


177 


runaway had been lassoed, and in two minutes 
was safely on deck. 

“ Well done, Graves! ” exclaimed Latch, as 
the aviator ended his perilous ride. “ That 
was a good piece of work, my boy ! ” 

The blood rushed to the young officer’s face. 
Latch had commended him! Latch no longer 
thought him a total loss. 

Nothing had broken, and in five minutes the 
launch was in the water. In three minutes 
more she had picked up her tow, four cutters, 
each with a fiapping set of colors and a section 
of marines — and was steaming merrily in 
towards the wharf. 

“ Three cheers for Mr. Graves ! ” shouted a 
gunner’s mate. 

Three cheers were given by the group of 
men near him. 

All hands were at the rail intently looking 
shorewards. The boats hauled alongside the 
wharf, and the marines landed. 


178 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“Behold!” cried Latch, a few minutes 
later. “ The stars and stripes! ” 

A big American flag was waving over the 
largest house of the village. 


CHAPTER XVI 

THE SECEET PASSAGE 

‘'TDY the way, Captain!” remarked Latch, 
grinning, “ as we are not going to fight 
those fellows, I suppose we’ll have to salute 
their Admiral.” 

“Yes,” agreed the Captain; “man the sa- 
luting battery and give him his thirteen guns.” 

“ I’ll watch with my glasses to see how they 
take it,” said Latch. “ We’ll fire with long 
intervals.” 

As a matter of precaution, the ship had been 
cleared for action; and the Orientals had no 
doubt observed this. When the first gun 
puffed fire and smoke and boomed out across 

the water, there was a great commotion on 

179 


180 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 


their ships. Bugle calls rang out, and men 
could be seen rushing about their decks. Ob- 
serving all this with their glasses, Latch and 
Graves burst out laughing. But when the sec- 
ond and third guns sounded with perfect reg- 
ularity, the Orientals recognized it as a salute, 
and the turmoil subsided. A few minutes 
later the compliment was returned with seven 
guns for Captain Barstow. 

Though so many things had happened, it 
was only noon and time for lunch. The of- 
ficers, except the officer of the deck and the 
Captain (who wanted to be ready, whatever 
else might happen) went below. 

“ I have a good appetite,” said Latch turn- 
ing to Graves. “ I always get hungry when 
there’s any excitement.” 

“ I’d rather sleep than eat,” replied Graves. 
‘‘ Three hours is hardly enough for me.” 

“ I doubt if you wanted to sleep when we 
were going through your channel. The way 
we poked our nose into the mud made me 


THE SECRET PASSAGE 181 

think of something that happened on the 
Alaska one night on the other coast.” 

‘‘ What was that, sir? ” 

‘‘We were off Central America, headed 
north, with an ensign just out of the Acad- 
emy as officer of the deck. There’s lots of 
mud there, and we ran into it softly just as we 
did this morning. The night was dark and 
the sea smooth. The officer of the deck didn’t 
know anything had happened, and kept on go- 
ing ahead at fourteen knots until daylight. 
Then he found he hadn’t made an inch.” 

Graves threw himself back and laughed. 

“ The Captain called him into the cabin and 
asked him who was going to pay for that coal 
we’d been burning all his watch. The ensign 
said he supposed he’d have to, and when he fig- 
ured out it would be about a month’s pay, he 
sent in his resignation. The skipper made him 
take it back.” 

Graves was much amused. 

“That makes me think of something that 


182 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

happened on a fruit steamer I was a passenger 
on — but my story has a happy ending. We 
hit something one morning with a terrible 
thump, and there was a panic among the 
women on board. I was up forward and when 
I looked over I saw a big black mass like a 
submarine. It was a whale! and he couldn’t 
get loose. The Captain got out lines, tied him 
up hard and fast, and pushed him into port. 
The company made a fine thing of it and 
bought the Captain a new suit of clothes.” 

Since the battalion of marines was in pos- 
session ashore, and the Orientals were playing 
a waiting game. Captain Barstow decided to 
run over in the afternoon to the other side of 
the bay to secure possession of the little village 
there, and of the fort just beyond. The land 
around the bay was shaped like a horseshoe, 
with La Guardia at one tip, the smaller village 
at the other, and a rough impassable country 
in between. 


THE SECEET PASSAGE 


183 


At La Guardia a deputation wearing wide- 
brimmed conical straw hats came off to see the 
Captain. They suggested that either the 
United States should become part of Lower 
California or that they should become part of 
the United States, and approved the Captain’s 
plan to take care of the two villages pending 
some permanent arrangement. The Captain 
explained to them that the United States had 
all the territory it wanted; but that it would 
not allow a foreign nation to seize the bay. 

“ Did you ever hear of the Monroe Doc- 
trine? ” he asked the Mayor, who led the na- 
tive delegation. 

The Mayor explained that he was truly re- 
ligious but had never heard of that doctrine. 

“ No,” said Barstow, “ it’s a government 
doctrine. We won’t allow foreign countries 
to seize American soil. It wouldn’t be safe for 
us if we did.” 


Later in the afternoon the ship got under 


184 SAILING UNBEE SEALED OEDEES 


way for the eight-mile run to the other side. 
As she passed the Oriental flagship, “ atten- 
tion ” was sounded, the small marine guard 
presented arms, and the Admiral of the Orien- 
tal Empire was given three very complimen- 
tary bugle salutes. His ships also sounded at- 
tention, and their men stood still, facing the 
Greenville. 

When the other side was reached, the rest 
of the marines — a second detachment had been 
landed at La Guardia — was sent to take for- 
mal possession, and to hoist the American flag 
over the fort. The natives were very friendly 
and offered no objection. 

Graves went ashore with the landing party 
and after the ceremony went strolling along 
the beach. The natives looked picturesque in 
their holiday dress — particularly the women, 
with their velvet bodices and with colored 
shawls about their heads. He wanted to talk 
with them; but at the Naval Academy Spanish 
had bored him even more than compass cor- 


THE SECEET PASSAGE 


186 


rections. At any rate it was pleasant to 
stretch his legs after the days and nights 
aboard ship. Near the beach it was sandy; 
farther back on the hillside it was rough, dry, 
and rocky; but just around the fort the soil 
was damp, and palm trees, with bushes and 
vines, looked pleasantly green against the red 
of the fort. 

For a while Graves walked aimlessly, think- 
ing more about matters on the ship than of his 
immediate surroundings. The disappearance 
of the code-book, the changing of the search- 
light wires, the attempt to ground the ship at 
San Diego — all showed clearly that some plot 
was afoot. He had reported these facts to 
Latch and knew that the Commander was 
making an investigation. Who were the con- 
spirators? What was their object? 

On the other hand, why had the Captain al- 
ways seemed so friendly? And Alice Bar- 
stow, even at their first meeting? Half a 
dozen times the Captain had invited him to 


186 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

dinner, when no other officer — not even Latch 
— had been so honored. 

As Graves strolled along, not far from the 
water’s edge, where the rich soil around the 
fort reached down almost to the beach, he 
noticed a cluster of young trees covered by a 
heavy tropical vine. The trees were almost in 
a circle, as if planted there. He walked over to 
examine this odd growth, and found it easy to 
lift the tangled mass of vine and to push in- 
side. As he stepped in, the ground under foot 
sounded hollow. Boring down with his cane, 
he was surprised to feel something hard, like a 
board, about six inches below the surface, 
When he looked more closely, he noticed a 
slight fissure in the soil. He again stuck his 
cane down and pried the space larger. Then, 
stooping over, he cleared away the earth until 
he could push his hand down under the plank. 
It was wide and thick; but it lifted quite read- 
ily, bringing the thin layer of earth up with 
it. To his amazement he made out a short 


THE SECEET PASSAGE 187 

flight of steps leading down into what seemed 
to be a tunnel. 

With increasing surprise. Graves found 
that he could easily raise a second plank and 
look down. He then saw what was indeed a 
tunnel, and a well made one, with stone walls 
and floor. Descending the steps and striking 
a match, he advanced a few paces. The flick- 
ering light of the match was very uncertain, 
and he had visions of snakes underfoot and of 
scorpions or tarantulas dropping down his 
neck — or of Wizard Graves dropping into 
some well or down another flight of steps. 
However, his discovery was too interesting to 
neglect; he continued moving ahead slowly 
and striking matches. The walls felt damp 
and had an unwholesome smell. His hand 
touched something slimy, and as he jerked it 
back a big drop of water splashed on his neck 
and made him jump. 

The tunnel, which at first led parallel to the 
beach, curved off to the left. 


188 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ Who made this, and why? ” he asked him- 
self. “ It’s evidently a secret passage — but 
where to? ” 

At one point the tunnel was dimly lighted 
through an aperture overhead. He poked his 
cane through, and could see that this window, 
like the entrance, was hidden by creepers. 

As he proceeded he could hear voices, indis- 
tinctly at first, then plainly. 

“ This is a thundering place for Americans 
to sleep,” said a complaining voice. 

“ Not up to your standard of living, Mac? ” 
replied another speaker, laughing. 

“ It’s better than the crowded tub we’ve 
been on,” said a third. “At any rate it doesn’t 
wobble.” 

Graves halted. These voices sounded 
strangely familiar. His match went out, and 
he saw a ray of light coming through a crack 
in what looked like the end of the passage. 
Peering through it he saw a room with bare 
stone walls against one of which was a rack 


THE SECRET PASSAGE 


189 


full of rifles. On the floor were eight or ten 
cots; and sitting on them, or standing near, 
were half a dozen American marines. 

Graves rubbed his eyes, bewildered. Then 
he realized that he was looking into the guard 
room of the fort; and that the passage was 
surely a secret passage with means of escape 
to the water’s edge. 

Striking another match, he began to grope 
around the crack. Evidently he was at some 
sort of concealed door. Finally he felt what 
seemed to be a spring latch. 

“ What’s that noise in the wall? ” asked one 
of the marines suddenly. 

“ Must be rats ! ” said another. 

“ Rats your uncle! ” replied the first. “ No 
rats could make that noise. Sounds more like 
a house snake.” He continued quietly clean- 
ing his rifle. 

“Aw! This isn’t Manila, you gink! 
There’re no house snakes in this Republic. 
More likely it’s one of them armadillos.” 


190 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ Well, he can’t get through a two-foot 
wall. He won’t lose me any sleep.” 

“ Say! ” said the first speaker, dropping his 
voice. “ Isn’t this the night for that meet- 
ing? ” 

“ You mean Rostov and his crowd? Have 
they been after you? ” 

“ Not Rostov, but somebody else,” said the 
other mysteriously. “ You could have 
knocked me down with a feather. I was 
standing on the port side by the after five-inch 

gun, and ” he lowered his voice so that 

Graves could hear nothing more. 

I knew it all along,” replied the man with 
the rifle. “ And that professor, too. He 
thinks his name is Trotzky. They let me in on 
it at Honolulu. I know lots of those fellows 
on the Oriental ships. It’s all fixed up; they 

are going to Pipe down! Here comes 

the First Sergeant.” 

Graves would have given the Sergeant a 
handsome present to keep away; but he ap- 


THE SECEET PASSAGE 


Idl 

peared, and the talk drifted back to house 
snakes and cobras. His first impulse was to 
open the door and demand an explanation 
from the men who had been talking. 

‘‘ No! ” he said to himself. “ I’ll say noth- 
ing now; but I’ll tell Latch what I heard and 
come back to-morrow and learn all about this 
business.” 

He struck another match and noted branch 
passages leading off on each side. One prob- 
ably opened on another room of the fort, and 
the second, as he soon found, led to a sort of 
dugout furnished as if for the use of an of- 
ficer. 

He looked at his watch. It was almost six 
o’clock, the time fixed for a boat to the ship. 
Postponing further exploration until next 
day, he hurried back through the tunnel. This 
time fewer matches were needed. He hastily 
replaced the boards at the entrance, pushed his 
way through the screen, and saw his boat just 
coming in. 


192 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDERS 

The doctor and Kellam were also returning 
in the boat, and a party of petty officers. 

“ Well, what do you think I discovered this 
afternoon? ” asked Graves. 

The two officers and the other passengers 
looked interested. Something made Graves 
suddenly decide to keep his secret to himself. 

“ What was it? ” asked the doctor. 

“ Oh — one of those armadillos,” replied 
Graves, who really had seen one of the over- 
grown lizards. 

“ Is that all? ” laughed the doctor. ‘‘ I 
thought you’d found a buried treasure.” 


CHAPTER XVII 


A DESPERATE PLIGHT 
HAT night Graves carried out a plan he 



had formed to watch at the concealed 
manhole into the storeroom, and to catch, if 
possible, the miscreant who had stolen his code- 
book and tried to wreck the ship. At eight 
o’clock he went below with a Colt’s automatic 
and a novel, and seated himself, like a cat at a 
mouse hole, to await developments. 

Several times he thought he heard noises, as 
of a man crawling through the narrow spaces 
in the double bottom below. Once he was sure 
he heard a heavy shoe strike one of the metal 
frames. He jumped up, took his revolver in 
hand, and waited tensely ; but on this occasion, 
like the others, nothing happened. 


193 


194 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDERS 

‘‘ He’s making a lot of noise for one man,” 
he thought. “ He must have some way of 
opening up from below. If I want to catch 
him I’d better wait till he tries to come 
through.” 

But the man seemed to have changed his 
mind. It was a long and lonely watch, and 
the novel was not exciting. It kept him awake 
for a while; but towards morning he nodded 
and dozed off on his stool. When he roused 
himself his book was on the floor, and the 
hands of his watch showed six o’clock. 

“ All off for to-night! ” he murmured, get- 
ting up and stretching. “ I’ll take a shower 
and have breakfast.” 

The only other officer at early breakfast was 
Kellam, the man who was always busy. 

“Good-morning, sir!” said the gunner’s 
mate, who was wiping off a gun near Graves’s 
seat at table. 

“ Good-morning, Chester! Any more 
trouble with Rostov? ” It was the young man 


A DESPEEATE PLIGHT 


195 


Graves had rescued during the coaling at Cali- 
fornia City Point. 

“No, sir — thanks to you!” Chester had 
neglected no chance to show Graves his ap- 
preciation of the act that had saved him from 
the brig. 

During the day Graves had one of the car- 
penter’s mates screw down the movable plate 
in the storeroom. 

“ The next chap who tries to make a get- 
away by this route will be surprised! ” he said 
to himself. 

In the afternoon he went ashore and again 
reached the fort by the secret passage; but he 
heard no more interesting conversation. 

That night the ship remained off the fort 
and village, though the Captain was planning 
a return to La Guardia next day. The ma- 
rines there had established wireless commimi- 
cation with the Greenville, and reported that 
the Orientals had made no move. 

Graves turned in early and slept like a log 


196 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

until one o’clock in the morning. Then he 
suddenly started up in his bunk. A low and 
persistent murmur of voices — of many voices 
— was coming from somewhere aft. 

He got up and walked towards the steering 
engine-room. He soon realized that the noise 
came from this out-of-the-way place; but the 
door leading to it from the passage was closed 
and “ dogged ” — that is, clamped shut by a 
number of metal arms or “ dogs ” wedging the 
door tightly against the bulkhead. To open 
such a door it is necessary to throw all the dogs 
back — quite an operation, taking several min- 
utes. 

Graves knew that no men had any business 
in the steering engine-room at this time; but 
sometimes sailors gather secretly at night to 
drink or play cards contrary to the laws of the 
ship. If so, it was his duty to find out what 
was going on, and to put a stop to it. 

It flashed into his mind that the two marines 
he had overheard in the guard room had 


A DESPEEATE PLIGHT 197 

spoken of a “ meeting.” But that had been 
for the previous night, when he was in the 
storeroom. 

“I certainly am a wizard!” he thought. 
“ Now I understand the noises I heard. 
While I sat in the storeroom waiting, this 
whole gang passed under me and on to the 
steering engine-room. Yes — I need a brain 
tonic, sure!” He made a face and laughed 
softly. 

Evidently the people he suspected had 
passed from that double bottom compart- 
ment into the next, then up through the man- 
hole into the steering engine-room. The first 
meeting had been so successful that they were 
holding another. 

Graves stood by the door and listened. 
Though the voices were low, an intense 
speaker would sometimes use words he could 
catch. Most of the tones were rough and 
throaty; but not all. There was none of the 
loud laughter or singing that goes with a 


198 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDERS 


drinking bout or a gambling game. There 
was something odd about this party. 

“Direct action’s the only thing!” said a 
guttural voice. 

“ You bet it is! ” replied another, with a for- 
eign accent; “and we don’t want ” 

Graves could not hear the rest of this sentence, 
or anything else for several minutes. 

— “ To make a rush for the arms.” Graves 
was sure he knew this voice well. “ All the 
officers’ revolvers have blank cartridges, 
and ” the speaker dropped his voice. 

Graves’s pulse was beating fast. This talk 
sounded like mutiny. 

“ What are the Orientals doing? ” asked a 
man near the door. 

“We fixed up everything at Honolulu,” 
was the answer. “We had four or five con- 
ferences in that Japanese garden. They 
didn’t need us here until later — they are better 
organized than we are, and the Big Commit- 
tee didn’t want the American ship to come un- 


A DESPEEATE PLIGHT 


199 


til '' Again Graves missed the conclud- 

ing words. 

“ Of course/’ said a smooth voice that also 
sounded familiar, “ we don’t want to shed 
much blood.” 

“Nonsense!” replied a hard, bitter voice. 
“ We’ll shed all the blood we want. This 
bay’ll look like the Red, Sea. Half-way meas- 
ures are worse than no measures. Don’t 
you understand that, you sentimental old 
granny? ” 

Graves listened, stupefied. He was sure he 
knew this voice! — but how could such a thing 
be? 

“Open up this door!” he suddenly thun- 
dered. 

There was a dead silence — then a sound of 
moving feet. But no one opened the door. 

Graves began throwing back the dogs vio- 
lently, one by one. But when he reached the 
third, he found that someone inside was reclos- 
ing the first and second. This continued for 


200 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

some minutes. As fast as he opened, the other 
closed; the door was always clamped by six 
or eight dogs. Meanwhile there was a great 
shuffling of feet inside, but not a word spoken. 

At last he noticed that the man inside was 
no longer working against him. In two min- 
utes he had turned back all the dogs and 
thrown open the door. Though only in his pa- 
jamas and unarmed, he had no thought of 
danger. 

As the door banged open, he stepped inside. 
The room was empty! He looked about, sur- 
prised and bewildered. The air was thick with 
tobacco smoke and the lights were blazing. 

He glanced quickly about him. There was 
no other door. Then his eyes fell on the man- 
hole plate, which was closed, but not dogged 
down. 

‘‘ Ah! ” he said. “ There is the rat hole! ” 

Evidently the conspirators had passed into 
the double bottoms and were now crawling 
forward towards the engine-room. 


A DESPERATE PLIGHT 


201 


Obeying his first impulse, Graves lost no 
time in following them. The hard metal 
bruised his body, protected only by thin pa- 
jamas, but he did not feel it. He soon real- 
ized that the trouble-makers had too great a 
start for him to overtake even the last man. 
More than that, he found the hole leading to 
the next compartment (that under the store- 
room) closed from the other side. Pursuit 
was hopeless. 

But another idea — ^lie would run to the en- 
gine-room and head these rascals off. 

He lost no time attempting this; and hur- 
ried on deck towards the engine-room hatch. 
It was hard work moving fast in the darkness. 
He stumbled on a ladder, ran into the corner 
of a boat, tripped on an eye-bolt, and fell heav- 
ily. When, finally, he reached the foot of the 
engine-room ladder, he found the open man- 
hole — but no one coming out. He was too 
late. 


202 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

The only man in sight was a slow-moving 
oiler. 

“ Who were the men who passed out here a 
minute ago? ” demanded Graves. 

The oiler stared. The sudden appearance 
of an officer in pajamas was unusual in mid- 
watches. 

“ I heard some fellows talking, sir,” an- 
swered the man sleepily, “ but I didn’t take 
any notice. I’ve just come out from the fire- 
room, so did not see them.” 

Graves hurried back to report what he had 
heard to Commander Latch. Prompt action 
might be needed — for the conspirators, think- 
ing their plans discovered, might seize the 
armory at once. He found Jacklin and Kel- 
1am — who said they had been roused by the 
noise — wandering about in pajamas and ask- 
ing what had happened. Graves looked sur- 
prised but hurried on towards Latch’s state- 
room. A moment later the Professor came 
stumbling down the steps. He wore no collar 


A DESPERATE PLIGHT 


203 


or tie, his feet were in slippers, and his face 
and hands were covered with dirt. 

“ What have you been doing. Professor? ” 
asked Graves sternly. 

“ Oh — er — I’ve been studying Astronomy. 
It’s a fine night for the Southern Cross and 
those stars.” 

“ It is cloudy,” said Graves. 

The Professor looked confused. “ Oh — not 
overcast,” he replied. “ Some stars are visi- 
ble.” 

“ You had better go to your stateroom,” or- 
dered Graves, fixing his eyes on him. “ As- 
tronomy may prove to be a dangerous subject 
for you.” 

Graves hurried on to find Latch, and told 
him what had happened. 

“ Come on! ” said the latter, jumping out of 
his bunk, “ we’ll notify the Captain.” 

They quickly reached the cabin, where 
Graves made his report. 

“ What shall we do? ” asked Barstow, in his 


204 SAILING UNDEK SEALED OEDEKS 

thin, nasal voice. “ Would you take notice of 
it now. Latch — or would you wait? ” 

“If I have my way,” replied Latch with 
decision, “ the ringleaders in this business will 
be in irons in half an hour.” 

“ But who are they? ” asked the Captain 
unhappily. “ We don’t know their names.” 

“ I’d have that man Rostov for one,” re- 
jDlied Latch, “ and those highbinders that came 
aboard with him — and I’d nab that red- 
cheeked Professor, too, with his fads and 
theories and sociological books. Besides, the 
Master-at-Arms has a list of suspects.” 

“We couldn’t touch the Professor!” ob- 
jected the Captain. “ He had special author- 
ity to come aboard. It would cause all sorts 
of trouble if ” 

“ What is that noise? ” interrupted Graves. 

A great din had arisen on the gun deck; a 
moment later there was a sound of shots. The 
mutineers were not waiting for the Captain to 
decide. 


A DESPEEATE PLIGHT 


205 


A moment later a master-at-arms came 
running up. Blood was streaming down his 
face. 

“ The Chiefs been badly shot up ! ” he 
panted. “ The Chief ” meant the Chief Mas- 
ter-at-Arms, head of the ship’s police force. 
“ They rushed the small arms locker, Captain, 
and took all the rifles and revolvers. They’ve 
shot two or three fellows and beat up five or 
six. What shall we do, sir? ” 

“ Get your revolvers! ” shouted the Captain 
to the officers as he jumped out of bed. 
“ Where’s mine? Orderly! Orderly! ” 

No orderly answered. The Captain was 
running about in his stocking feet looking for 
his uniform and his revolver. 

“ Fast as you can. Graves! ” directed Latch 
coolly. “ You call the officers on the port side. 
I’ll take the starboard. Officers assemble with 
their revolvers on the half -deck! ” He was off 
like a flash. 

“ Master-at-Arms ! ” he called as he ran. 


206 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ get all the loyal men aft to support the of- 
ficers! ” 

“Aye, aye, sir!” The man hurried for- 
ward, his face dripping blood. Meanwhile 
Barstow, who had found his revolver, had run 
out on the half-deck. 

As he did so, he was seized by a dozen 
brawny arms and thrown heavily to the deck. 
In falling, he discharged his weapon, but 
harmlessly. One of the mutineers gave a loud 
guffaw. 

“Nothing but blank cartridges, fellows! 
None of these officers can hurt you. All their 
ammunition’s been fixed.” 

Meanwhile the Captain had been bound, 
hand and foot. 

“Don’t kill him yet, fellows!” cautioned a 
boatswain’s mate, who seemed to be a leader. 
“ We’ll need some hostages, perhaps.” 

In a moment Latch appeared on the run, 
followed by Jacklin. He fired his revolver 
three times; but seeing that he had been 


A DESPEEATE PLIGHT 207 

tricked, he used the butt and gave two men 
bloody heads. A fierce hand-to-hand fight fol- 
lowed, in which he was roughly handled by an 
increasing crowd of mutineers. 

“Don’t shoot him yet!” ordered Rostov, 
who was now leading the rioters. “ Hit him 
over the head, but don’t kill him! ” 

Latch rolled over and over the deck, strug- 
gling with as many men as could reach him. 
Finally he was overpowered, with his right 
arm broken and with several bad cuts about 
the head. He was tightly bound and thrown 
on the deck by the Captain. 

“ Now,” remarked Rostov, “ we’ve got the 
brains of the wardroom gang. We must catch 
Graves next. We may need him and his 
friend the doctor.” 

Jacklin had been overpowered after a hard 
tussle, in which he was aided by a small party 
of petty officers and others who had come to 
rally around the officers. As it turned out 
later, many more would have come except for 


208 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


a small and violent group who had seized all 
the arms and controlled the situation. After 
two or three loyal men had been shot, only the 
bravest risked going aft unarmed. Long, who 
had arrived, tried to organize these to make a 
fight; but they were mostly knocked down, one 
by one, as they came aft. Some were still 
fighting with chairs, pieces of board, and jack- 
knives. 

While this was going on. Graves had dashed 
to his stateroom and secured his revolver. Re- 
membering what he had heard, he changed the 
cartridges for some others from his desk. 
This delayed him a little, so that he was one 
of the last officers to reach the half -deck. As 
he came running up, brandishing his auto- 
matic, Rostov and several others bounded to 
meet him, aiming their own revolvers and 
fearless of his. A bullet wound in the shoul- 
der brought Rostov to his senses; another 
brought down the navigator’s yeoman. The 
others fell back in confusion; several fired 


A DESPEEATE PLIGHT 209 

wildly without hitting Graves. The slight de- 
lay gave him time to slip through a door and 
turn two or three dogs. 

The mutineers hesitated; each feared that if 
he opened he would be promptly shot. But 
Graves made the most of his opportunity. 
Seeing that he was single-handed against 
twenty armed men, he rushed down into the 
wardroom, knocking over a mess attendant on 
the ladder, and ran aft into the steering engine- 
room, passing through the door before anyone 
had seen him. A moment later the noise of 
scurrying feet and snarling sounds as if from 
a pack of dogs showed that he was being pur- 
sued. 

He had closed the door; but there was no 
means of locking it, and he would be found 
and shot in five minutes. He looked about des- 
perately. Why not take the route the con- 
spirators had taken? 

As he squeezed through the manhole into 
the double bottoms, he heard men throwing 


210 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

back the clamps, and the bang of the door as 
it flew open. 

“Get that dog!” shouted Rostov, who 
though bloody was still able to lead. “ He 
must be in here! ” 

“ I don’t see him. Chief,” said a seaman. 
“ Look in his stateroom.” 

“ What’s that manhole open for? He’s 
down there! Jump in, McKay, and get him! ” 

“ He’ll shoot me as soon as I stick my legs 
down. He’s got a live revolver, remember! ” 

Graves did not wait to hear more. He rap- 
idly crawled forward, knocking his head 
against the frames, bruising his hands and 
body, but thinking only of reaching the exit 
to the next compartment. Suddenly he re- 
membered that it was closed! He was trapped 
again. 

He reached the plate and gave it a desper- 
ate, hopeless push. It yielded a little. He 
pushed harder — and it flew open. The mu- 
tineers in their hurry had not secured it prop- 


A DESPERATE PLIGHT 211 

erly. He passed through the compartment 
and into that under the engine-room. When 
he had almost reached the exit he heard whis- 
pering voices. 

“Keep still, fellows! He’ll have to crawl 
out here. Soon as he sticks his head up let 
him have it! ” 

“We want to tie him up like the others, 
don’t we? ” The speaker was one of the quar- 
termasters who had always liked the naviga- 
tor. 

“Not on your life! He shot two of our 
people. Killing’s too good for him.” 

Graves felt uncomfortable. He had no 
wish to be knocked in the head. He was 
caught, with enemies at both ends. 

Then he remembered that the engine-room 
double bottoms connected with those under the 
torpedo room, which itself was below the water 
line. Probably no one was in the torpedo 
room; and if he could reach it he would be safe 
there for a time. He could get through if the 


212 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDERS 


connecting manhole were open; and it might 
be, for the gunner’s mates had been scraping 
and red leading their double bottoms the day 
before. 

It was open; and he found himself under 
the torpedo room. The smell of the turpen- 
tine in the red lead was overpowering. It 
choked him and made his eyes sting until he 
could hardly stand it. The wet paint covered 
his hands, shoes, and uniform, and smeared his 
face with red. 

Luckily the exit to the torpedo room was 
also open. 

Listening under it, he could not hear a 
sound. 

“ Good! ” he thought. “ Now if some gun- 
ner’s mate has left a pair of overalls down 
here, I’ll slip them on, go on deck, and before 
they recognize me jump over and swim 
ashore.” Graves was not easily discouraged. 

He stuck his head cautiously out of the 
manhole. For a moment his arms were pinned 


A DESPEEATE PLIGHT 213 

close to his side and he was helpless. And not 
two feet away stood a man. 

The man started violently and looked at 
Graves. His face was deathly pale, and he 
had a bad cut over one eye. 

“Get out of here or I’ll kill you!” he 
threatened, waving an iron bucket, the only 
weapon he had. 

“ Don’t you recognize me, Chester? ” asked 
Graves calmly. He realized at last he had 
found a friend. 

Chester, who was still grateful, drew back 
amazed, and looked with horror at the officer’s 
face, which seemed to be all bloody. 

“ Mr. Graves ! ” he exclaimed, “ for good- 
ness sake get back. They’re looking for you 
everywhere. I came down here to get away 
from them — but they’ll kill me and you, too.” 

“ Get me a suit of overalls, Chester. I’ll go 
up and swim ashore.” 

“ No use, Mr. Graves. It’s beginning to be 
light; they’d see you and shoot you in the 


214 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


water. They’re watching every hatch. 
They’d be sure to catch you as you went up.” 

Graves sat down on a torpedo tube and 
leaned his chin on his hand. He was thinking 
deeply. 


CHAPTER XVIII 

A LIVE TOEPEDO 

/^N a ship like the Greenville torpedoes are 
fired not from deck but through under- 
water tubes. The motive power is not powder, 
but compressed air; and the pressure of this 
air is nothing like the enormous force that pro- 
jects a cannon ball. Though the torpedo is 
launched by the air, it is self-propelling, and 
will travel four or five miles under its own 
power. 

“ Is there a torpedo in this tube? ’’ asked 
Graves suddenly. The light of resolution was 
in his eyes. 

“ No, sir,” replied Chester, wondering. 

“ Compressed air in the flasks? ” 

215 


216 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDERS 

“Yes, sir — plenty.” 

“ And the firing mechanism’s in order? ” 

“ Sure, Mr. Graves. We test the circuit 
every day.” 

“ All right, Chester. I’ll be the torpedo and 
you can fire me out! ” 

“ Sir? ” exclaimed Chester, his eyes pop- 
ping. 

“ Yes!” said Graves, laughing at Chester’s 
expression. “ There’s no use for me to go on 
deck and be killed. If I stay down here I’ll 
certainly starve. Shoot me out of the tube! 
I’ll come to the surface not far off and swim 
ashore.” 

Chester looked at Graves dumbfounded. 
Those wounds that made his face all red must 
have crazed him. 

“Why certainly!” continued Graves. 
“ The tube’s quite big enough for me. You’ll 
have to watch your step — have the air pressure 
right, and shoot quickly when the outer door 
is opened. I’m not made of steel and I 


A LIVE TOEPEDO 


217 


haven’t gills — ^but I can stand all the pressure 
we need, and I always liked diving, I can 
hold my breath several minutes.” 

“Why — ^why — Mr. Graves!” stammered 
the boy, “ you’ll be drowned before you ever 
get started. Sit quiet here a while, Mr. 
Graves. It’s all right — ^your head’s a little 
dizzy, sir. They cut you up badly.” 

Graves laughed again. Chester certainly 
was comical. 

“ No, I’m all right, my boy. Don’t worry 
about me. This stuff on my face is red lead. 
I’ve got to get ashore — and the only way I see 
is through the tube.” 

Chester shook his head mournfully. 

“ I can stay under water three minutes,” 
continued Graves. “ It oughtn’t to take that 
long to flood the tube and Are.” 

Before a torpedo is inserted, both doors are 
closed and the tube is dry. The inboard door 
is opened and the torpedo is run in; then this 
door is closed, and the other is opened, flood- 


218 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDERS 


ing the tube with water and leaving a free exit 
for the torpedo. Finally, by means of the fir- 
ing apparatus, compressed air is admitted be- 
hind the torpedo — and it rushes out into the 
water. 

“ It’ll never work, sir,” repeated Chester. 
‘‘ You’ll simply drown there in the tube. 
Don’t try it, Mr. Graves ! ” 

“ Drowning’s an easy death,” replied 
Graves smiling. “ I’d rather take my chance 
this way. If I haven’t a propeller I have 
arms and legs. I’ll wrap my clothes around 
my waist to make a snug fit in the tube and 
give the air a chance to push. If you work 
fast everything will go right.” He discarded 
his shoes ; then taking off his blouse, shirt, and 
trousers, made a sort of wad of them about his 
body. 

Chester helped him; and still shaking his 
head, examined the air connections and the fir- 
ing apparatus. All seemed in order. 

“ Now,” asked Graves, “ have you some cot- 


A LIVE TOEPEDO 


219 


ton waste I can put in my ears? ’’ Drawing a 
note-book from his pocket he tore out two 
pages and hastily scribbled two short notes. 

“ I’m going to ask one other favor of you, 
Chester,” he added, taking off his class-ring 
and slipping one of the notes through it. 
“ Send these notes to the addresses on the out- 
side, and the class-ring with the one that’s in 
it — that is,” he corrected in a more cheerful 
tone, “ if you don’t give them both back to me. 
Good-bye, my boy, and good luck! Just keep 
your nerve, and we may see each other to-mor- 
row.” 

He shook hands with Chester, whose lips 
were trembling. 

“ Remember,” cautioned Graves, as he 
stuck his head and shoulders into the tube, 
“ fire me quickly after you flood. Every sec- 
ond will count.” 

He crawled in; and Chester pushed him 
well in, forcing the clothing into the space be- 
tween the man and the tube. This made him 


220 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 


fit snugly, like a torpedo, and protected his 
head from the compressed air. 

“Ram me home!” he called back with a 
muffled voice, “ and when you fire, use enough 
air to keep me from sticking — but don’t blow 
too hard! Look alive now, Chester! ” 

Chester pushed again, closed the inner door, 
and, working furiously, opened the outer one. 
He could hear the water rushing in, and knew 
that Graves was holding his breath for life. 
He jumped to the firing trigger and pulled it. 
There was a dull, explosive sound inside the 
tube. 

Either Graves was outside among the 
fishes, or he was drowning in the tube. 

When the closing of the inner door shut him 
in tightly. Graves felt that he was suffocating. 
However, he took in several deep breaths (for 
he knew this diver’s trick) ; and a moment 
later felt the rush of salt water against his 
face. This caused a terrible sensation of being 


A LIVE TOEPEDO 


221 


choked and mashed; for at this depth the pres- 
sure of water was great — and a force sud- 
denly applied has double effect. 

Then came a greater force. He felt a sharp 
pressure against his legs as the compressed air 
was suddenly turned on. But before he could 
think, he found himself slipping through the 
tube — and a moment later he was outside the 
ship, ten feet below the surface. 

By this time he was suffering terribly for 
want of breath. He wanted air, air ! and with- 
out it felt that he would burst. A mountain of 
dark water was over him. Then overhead he 
saw a distant, deep green light. How deep 
the water seemed, how terrific the pressure on 
his chest and ears! At last he shot up to the 
surface, hardly a boat’s length from the ship. 

Day was just breaking. Shorewards he 
could dimly see palm trees, the houses of the 
village, and the dim outlines of the fort. 
From the ship no one was looking over the side 
and the swimmer was unnoticed. 


222 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


Graves, who was at home in the water, felt 
no uneasiness about the half-mile swim to the 
shore — though at first his limbs felt strangely 
cramped, and he was out of breath. His fear 
was that the people on the ship would see him 
and shoot or capture him. He could still hear 
a great turmoil on board. 

“ What’s that in the water? ” rang out a 
voice from the rail. 

“ What do you think, you fool? ” answered 
a gruffer voice. “ It’s a seal. Lots of ’em 
down here.” 

“ Well, I’m going to take a crack at it, just 
the same ! ” replied the first speaker in loud, 
maudlin tones that Graves could hear dis- 
tinctly. Fortunately for Graves it was still 
dark enough to make objects in the water 
indistinct. 

It gives a man a peculiar feeling to know 
that a bullet may hit him in the head at any 
moment. Graves swam on, thinking that each 
second might be his last. He saw a little 


A LIVE TOEPEDO 


223 


splash in the water near him, and heard the 
crack of a revolver. He dived, and stayed un- 
der as long as he could. As he emerged there 
was another splash, a little nearer than the 
first, and a third, fourth, and fifth. He heard 
exclamations and bursts of laughter from the 
ship. The sixth splash was not an inch from 
his head, and was accompanied by the singing 
of a bullet close to his ear. 

“Thank goodness!” thought Graves, “his 
chamber’s empty.” 

He could hear the voices of others attracted 
to the rail by the shooting; but no one else 
tried to put a bullet through the seal. 

One danger was followed by another. Five 
minutes later he heard a great commotion, and 
the creaking of pulleys as a boat was lowered. 
Some leader must have inspected the seal with 
glasses and found it to be a man. 

Graves’s heart sank. Was he to be cap- 
tured after all? 

As everyone was giving orders and no one 


224 SAILING IJNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


obeying them, it took some time to man the 
boat. Finally it shoved off and headed 
towards the swimmer, who was now nearing 
the shore. 

But a boat moves much faster than a man. 
Graves, though already tired, made desperate 
efforts to cover the remaining hundred yards. 
He started swimming hand over hand for 
speed, straining forward at every long stroke; 
then changed to the “ Australian Crawl,” 
burying his head in the water, throwing one 
arm out, then the other, giving short vertical 
kicks with his feet. Behind him he could hear 
the oars creaking in the rowlocks and splash- 
ing. 

“ There he is ! ” called out a pursuer. “ I see 
him, sailors! Give way for all you’re worth! ” 
Graves looked over his shoulder. The boat was 
gaining on him fast. 

Just then his foot touched bottom. He rose 
to his feet, and, running as fast as he could, 
splashed his way ashore. Glancing back, he 


A LIVE TOEPEDO 


226 


saw that the boat had stranded, and that the 
crew were jumping out, some brandishing 
oars, others revolvers, one a rifle. 

Another of the ship’s boats was hauled up 
on the beach. 

Fortunately there was a clump of trees 
close to the cove Graves had landed in. He 
made for it; but the cover was imperfect, and 
a rifle bullet would easily find him. 

He looked hastily beyond. Not twenty feet 
away was the little thicket that marked the en- 
trance to the tunnel. Running low, with the 
trees between him and his pursuers, he reached 
the screen of vines and burrowed in. He al- 
most fell down the steps; then pulled the dark 
boards, with their cover of earth, back into 
place. No one would notice them, he trusted, 
in the uncertain light. 

Before he had time to run along the tunnel 
he heard a mutineer call out: 

“ I guess he’s in those bushes, Irish. Take 
a look! ” 


226 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

Graves heard a man forcing his way 
through the vines. 

“ Nobody here, my son! ” Irish drew back 
and moved away. 

Graves was shivering in his underclothes; 
even at Dolorosa Bay it is chilly in the early 
morning, especially if a man is wet. This time 
he had no matches, and the tunnel was very 
dark. However, he was safe for the moment, 
and friends were near. He groped his way 
along slowly; and ten minutes later saw the 
faint light marking the crack around the door 
to the guard room. 

Meanwhile he had been forming a plan. 
He would join the marines in the fort, and 
with this armed force seize the boats on the 
beach, go off to the ship, and recapture it! 


CHAPTER XIX 


THE OAPTIYES 

I j^ORTUNATELY it was spring-time in 
the tropics and warm even at seven 
o’clock in the morning. Graves’s clothes were 
beginning to dry on his back ; and on a tropical 
beach flimsy clothes seem as natural as furs in 
the Arctic. What Graves wished for most 
was his shoes. 

He hurried to the crack in the door and 
again looked into the central room of the fort, 
where a noisy conversation was in progress. 
The room was blue with smoke and littered 
with empty bottles. He noticed five or six 
men in the uniform of marines, and some 
others. To his amazement the others were a 
boatswain’s mate, several seamen, three of the 

party who had come aboard with Rostov, that 
227 


228 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

gentleman himself with his bandaged shoulder 
— and two men whose backs were turned. The 
first of these glanced round, and Graves rec- 
ognized the Professor, who looked pale but 
important. A moment later the second — in 
an officer’s uniform — turned and strolled to- 
wards the concealed door. It was Kellam! 

Kellam walked over to Rostov. 

“ Did you have any trouble taking the 
fort? ” he asked. 

The other gave a rough laugh. 

“Not a bit. We had two of the marines 
fixed — these two fellows here — shake hands 
with Comrade Kellam ! They had pinched all 
the arms. These four other fellows went over 
to us when they saw how it was, and the rest 
had nothing to fight with. We had to shoot 
one in the thigh.” 

“ And the others? ” asked Kellam. 

“ They’re tied up in the guard-room with 
the officers. That’s what you wanted, wasn’t 
it?” 


THE CAPTIVES 


229 


“ Yes,” said Kellam with a reflective look 
on his sinister features. “ That’s good for the 
present. We can decide what to do with them 
later; they may be useful as hostages.” 

“ Well, we brought them all over in the 
early boat. That fellow Latch asked for the 
doctor, and the marine sergeant was groaning. 
But we told them the Doc could stay tied up 
until we needed him for some of the proleta- 
riat! ” Rostov again gave his loud laugh. “ I 
made him dress my shoulder. I have that fel- 
low Graves to thank for this 1 ” 

An expression of hate passed over Kellam’s 
face. 

“ Why did you let him get away? Of 
course he can’t go far, but it’ll be some trouble 
chasing him. We’ll organize a hunt this 
morning. That’ll be good sport anyway.” 

He laughed. It was a laugh that made 
Graves shiver — and almost the first he had 
ever heard from his shipmate. 

“ Yes, comrade,” continued Kellam. “ I’ve 


230 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

got a private score to settle with him. He’s 
the son of that Judge Graves who used to sit 
up on his bench and send better men to the 
pen.” 

Graves listened with redoubled interest — 
but Kellam, who was only about ten feet away, 
said nothing more. 

“ Don’t you want to tell these new comrades 
something about the plan? ” asked Rostov. 

“ Sure,” replied Kellam. He rapped on 
the floor with his stick. 

“ Gather round, comrades ! ” he called out. 
“ I want everybody to know what we are do- 
mg. 

The vicious-looking group gathered around 
Kellam, who was evidently the leader of the 
whole mutiny. 

“ Some of you fellows have known me for a 
long time,” he began, “ but others thought un- 
til to-day that I was really one of this dirty 
officer crowd. I hate ’em just as much as you 
do — ^but I obeyed orders from our great leader 


THE CAPTIVES 


231 


in Europe.” At this point there were cheers, 
led by the Professor, and loud imprecations 
that seemed to annoy him. 

“ Yes, comrades,” went on Kellam. “ I got 
my commission as an officer so as to work from 
the inside. They'd never have given it if 
they’d known who I was — but a man can 
change his name without much trouble.” 
Some of his hearers grinned — they had 
changed their names several times. 

“ Many a weary night I studied their navi- 
gation and seamanship and other stuff I was 
sick of. I didn’t care who won the war — 
French, Turks, or Germans, it’s all the same 
to me — all we want, comrades, is to get rid of 
these pious people who amuse themselves 
while good men work and go to prison.” 

“ We’ve made a good start in Europe,” said 
the boatswain’s mate leering, “ and the United 
States will be next.” There was a growling, 
ugly, doggish sound from the others. 

“Well said. Comrade!” put in the Pro- 


232 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

fessor. The man looked at him contemptu- 
ously and did not deign to reply. 

“ Now I’ll tell you what the scheme is,” 
continued Kellam. “ Ever since the revolu- 
tion in Lower California, weVe been planning 
to come down here and take charge. The 
country needs a Bolshevik government, and 
we want to use Dolorosa Bay as a base to work 
from. Now that we have the fort we’ll soon 
have the big town across the bay, and 
then ” 

“How about those Oriental ships? ” asked 
one of the men with a Russian face. 

“ Oh, we have lots of comrades in that fleet. 
That’s all arranged.” 

“ The red flag’s flying on one of their ships 
this morning,” put in Rostov. 

“ You see,” went on Kellam, “ we didn’t 
want the Greenville to come here with all those 
tin-soldiers aboard. That’s why we tried to 
run her aground. The Big Committee wanted 
the Orientals to get here first — we’ve more 


THE CAPTIVES 


233 


comrades in that fleet, and they’re tightly or- 
ganized. But it’s working all right now, in 
spite of the marines.” 

“ But it took a lot of planning to make it 
work! ” injected the Professor. 

“ Shut up! ” said Kellam rudely, “ and let 
me finish talking.” The Professor looked 
crestfallen. “ We’ll let you know when we 
want you to plan some more.” This rebuke 
was greeted with noisy laughter. 

“We’ve made a fine start,” boasted Kellam. 
“We have the Greenville and one Oriental 
ship already, and the fort. We’ll have the 
other ships by noon. Then we’ll all go ashore 
and capture La Guardia after shelling that 
cursed marine battalion. No offense to you 
fellows who got out! ” 

“ Haven’t we some comrades among 
them? ” inquired the boatswain’s mate. 

“ Oh, yes ! but not enough. Some six-inch 
guns will convince the others. We’ll have the 
town before to-morrow night.” 


234 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

“We mustn’t shed any more blood than nec- 
essary,” said the Professor; “ a little straight 
talking and explanation of our theories ” 

“ Shut up, I tell you! ” said Kellam sharply. 

“ Yes, shut up! ” repeated Rostov brutally, 
striking the Professor in the mouth. “We 
don’t want any ladylike theories from you. 
When we want you to write something pretty, 
we’ll tell you ! ” He glared, like an angr}^ 
bulldog, at the Professor, who glared back, but 
knew he must either submit or expect worse 
treatment. 

“ We’ll use him and the Doctor,” said 
Kellam, “ and we may make Graves navigate 
the ship somewhere. I’ll be too busy. It 
doesn’t matter much what becomes of the 
others. Give ’em enough of that nice bread 
and water to keep ’em alive.” 

This remark was greeted with cheers and 
laughter. 

Graves heard every word of this, for the 
door of the secret passage was right opposite 


THE CAPTIVES 


235 


Kellam. The nearest man was so close that 
Graves was afraid his mere breathing would 
be heard. A cough would have been fatal. 

Evidently his little plan of recapturing the 
ship at the head of the marines would not work. 
Half the men he was to lead were imprisoned 
with the officers, and the other half were drink- 
ing beer with the Bolshevists ! 

“ Now,” said Kellam, getting down from 
the chest he had been standing on while mak- 
ing his speech, “ I want to send a secret mes- 
sage to our comrades on the ship. We must 
steam back to ” 

“ How’ll we do it? ” interrupted Rostov. 
“ I have the flags over here but not the code.” 

“ I flxed that long ago. I have the book 
that was in Graves’s room, and Leof has an- 
other on the ship. I hoped they’d court- 
martial Graves for losing his copy — but the 
old woman captain seems to be fond of him.” 

Graves smiled. Kellam was telling him 
many things. 


236 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

The crowd that had been in the room was 
dispersing. It was to be a busy day for 
Bolshevists. 

It now occurred to Graves to finish explor- 
ing the passage. One branch led to the secret 
room which has already been mentioned; the 
other evidently led to other rooms of the fort. 
He groped his way along, hoping he might not 
fall down a flight of stairs or otherwise make 
his presence Imown, and soon heard groans 
and the voices of men talking — voices quite 
different from those he had been listening to. 
This time the ray of light came from overhead. 
He stopped and listened. 

“ I wish I could do something to help you, 
Commander,” said a voice that he recognized 
as the Doctor’s. “ But, as you see, I’m tied 
up, too.” 

“ It’s almost funny to have a broken arm 
bandaged like this,” said Latch with effort. 
“ They’ve twisted it in roping me and it hurts 
like seven hundred dollars.” 


THE CAPTIVES 


237 


The Sergeant, who was more seriously 
wounded, was trying to stifle his groans. 

“ I wonder what time it is,” said the Pay- 
master. “ It seems twelve hours since they 
brought us over here and I’m hungry as a 
shark.” 

“ Send for the dinner menu. Pay,” re- 
marked the Doctor. “I’d like to order some 
oysters and a few things.” 

“And something cold to drink,” said the 
Chief Engineer. “ My tongue’s hanging out.” 

“ I wonder if these wretches’ll leave us here 
all day without food and drink,” moaned the 
Captain. 

“ There’s lots of food in the next room, sir,” 
said the Paymaster. “ I saw them put it 
there. There’s a big scuttle butt there too.” 

“ Yes — it’s full of wine,” said Latch. “ I’d 
like to relieve my thirst with some cold spring 
water! ” 

So far Graves had not made a sound. He 
could not see the room, as in the other case. 


238 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 


and did not know who mightbe within hearing. 
But it flashed into his mind that, by working 
quickly before the ship sailed, he might still 
save the day. Why not slip into the room — 
there must be some sort of trap-door leading 
to it, — release the officers, seize the arms, sur- 
prise the mutineers in the fort, and recapture 
the ship? 

“ Commander! ” he whispered softly. 


CHAPTER XX 


TUENING THE TABLES 

T ATCH started violently and tried to 
sit up. 

“ I could have sworn I heard someone 
calling me ! ” he exclaimed. 

“Commander!” whispered Graves a little 
louder. “ This is Graves. Are any of those 
scoundrels in the room? ” 

Latch looked as bewildered as ever, but now 
realized that the voice addressing him came 
from underneath. He noticed for the first 
time the crack in the stone-fioor and painfully 
rolled over so as to speak through it. 

“ Graves! Is that you? How in the name 
of the sacred pig did you get there? ” 

Graves chuckled softly. 

239 


240 SAILING TJNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ Came ashore for my health. I’m in a 
secret passage to the fort. I’m going to re- 
lease you.” 

“A secret passage! What luck! Find out 
where the arms are first and then come back. 
But say — can you get in here? If you could 
ease this rope around my right arm ” — a 
spasm of pain crossed his face. 

He leaned over and whispered the news to 
the Captain and the others, who all looked 
overjoyed. 

Graves was busily trying to open the trap- 
door. With a light he might have been able 
to see how it opened; but as it was, he had to 
depend on his finger-tips. Finally he dis- 
covered a lever and the pin locking it, which 
he removed. Then he pressed against the 
lever with all his strength. 

As it was of rusty iron, nothing happened 
at first. Then he felt the door, which con- 
sisted of a metal plate with false stonework 
over it, slowly yield and descend until, as he 


TUENING THE TABLES 241 

could feel, the tops of the stones were an inch 
below the ceiling of the small compartment he 
was in. 

But at this point the door stuck. Not being 
a mouse he could not possibly squeeze through 
the narrow space now open above him. 

F or some minutes he continued to tug at the 
lever, perspiring violently. It would never do 
to leave the trap-door this way. No opening 
big enough for his body had been made, and 
yet the change in the floor level would be im- 
mediately noticed. Hot and cold waves ran 
up and down his spine. 

“ How are you getting on? ” whispered 
Latch eagerly from overhead. “ Hurry all 
you can. I hear footsteps outside!” 

Graves struggled desperately, but the door 
would not budge. At last it occurred to him 
to search for another lever. Sure enough, his 
hand found one on the opposite side. Unfor- 
tunately it was stuck worse than the first. He 
pulled with all his weight, trying both steady 


242 SAILING UNDEB SEALED OEDEES 


pulls and quick jerks — but do what he would, 
he could not move it. He was in despair; 
every moment of delay was costly. If he only 
had a match ! 

He groped about for something to hit with 
— and found a large stone that had dropped 
from the wall. The first blow with this broke 
the end of the lever. 

But there was still part of it left; and after 
two or three more strokes he heard a crack and 
felt a slight movement. Rust had caused the 
lever to “ freeze,” but it was now loose. He 
again applied his weight and was pleased to 
see the crack widen into a belt and his com- 
partment flood with light. “Fine!” whis- 
pered Latch from above. 

The second lever was causing the door to 
slide under the floor. 

Another tug or two made a space three or 
four feet wide, and he easily climbed up to the 
room where the prisoners were confined. 
They were tightly bound, and seemed to be in- 


TURNING THE TABLES 


243 


tensely uncomfortable. Mosquitoes were 
buzzing round their heads, now and then 
stinging, and flies were tickling their faces; it 
took endless wriggling to drive the insects 
away. A little pool of blood was around the 
Sergeant, whose face was very pale. The 
Captain’s was intensely red, as if from a rush 
of blood. 

It took Graves only an instant to loosen the 
rope around Latch’s arms and to free the Ser- 
geant. 

“ Don’t lose any time here! ” urged Latch. 
“ I’ll attend to the others. Try to find where 
the arms are.” 

Graves jumped back into the secret pas- 
sage; for the door to the room was locked. 
His first thought was to leave the trap-door 
open; but as he feared somebody might come 
in before his friends were ready, he closed it — 
after making sure that the levers were work- 
ing freely — and groped his way in the dark- 
ness towards the next exit. As he hoped, this 


244 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 

was into the adjoining room — and his heart 
leapt when he saw there a stack of rifles and a 
pile of revolvers. 

This door, like the one he had first found, 
was at the side and he readily found the means 
of opening it. Seizing an armful of revolvers 
and belts he hurried back to his friends, partly 
opened the trap-door, and passed the weapons 
up. He found the leashings off all but two. 

The Captain, though almost prostrated 
from heat and excitement, was now able to 
take command. 

“ Go back, with two or three others. Graves, 
and seize the rest of the arms. We’ll wait for 
you here and defend ourselves if necessary.” 

Graves, with the Chief Engineer and two 
marines, were soon back with the remaining 
arms, a small breaker of water and a box of 
crackers which they had been lucky enough to 
find. 

“ Follow me, sir,” said Graves to the Cap- 
tain, “ and I’ll show you the way out. There 


TUENING THE TABLES 245 

is a secret room where we can hide the arms we 
don’t need.” 

The officers and marines, so recently cap- 
tives, let themselves down into the passage one 
by one. A litter had been arranged for the 
helpless sergeant. Latch produced a cigar- 
lighter that dispersed the shadows. 

“ There are eight of us,” said Graves to 
Latch, “ and five marines — just a baker’s 
dozen. That’s enough to take the fort with.”. 

“And the ship, too,” added Latch, who had 
quite forgotten his broken arm. “ Bring the 
ropes along — ^we may need them.” 

Tiptoeing, the party rapidly moved to the 
room where they deposited the surplus arms. 

“ Now before we rush the enemy, let’s each 
take a swallow from that breaker!” said Latch 
in a low voice. 

“And a cracker!” added Pay, opening the 
box and helping himself. 

Graves had gone on ahead to reconnoitre at 
the concealed door. 


246 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

Rostov and Kellam were talking over a bot- 
tle of beer. Eight or ten other men were ly- 
ing on the bunks about the room. 

“ I got the signal off all right! ” Rostov was 
saying, “ and they promised to have steam up 
in half an hour. We can be under way by ten 
o’clock.” 

“And it’s nearly nine now!” said Kellam, 
looking at his watch. “We can get the guns 
in readiness while we are running across the 
bay.” 

Graves hurried back to the Captain. 

“ We’ll have to work quickly, sir,” he re- 
ported. “ They plan to get under way in an 
hour.” 

“And it’ll never do for us to be left here,” 
added Latch quickly. “We must take the 
fort and then surprise the ship.” 

“ Do you know how to open the door to the 
guard-room? ” he asked, turning to Graves. 

“ Ko, but I can soon find out.” 

“And alarm them while you are doing it! 


TURNING THE TABLES 


247 


Captain, when you give the signal we must 
knock in the door with the butts of our rifles 
and charge the scoundrels before they know 
what has happened.’’ 

“ Luckily it’s nothing but wood with plaster 
over it,” explained Graves. 

Each of the little party belted on an auto- 
matic revolver, and all except the Captain, 
Latch, and Graves, took rifles. 

“ Very well,” said the Captain, who, having 
forgotten his worries, seemed quite a different 
man; “ when I whisper ‘ Go!’ you three ” — in- 
dicating the Chief Engineer and two of the 
marines — “ bang down the door. Then step 
aside and let us three with revolvers go in first. 
I will lead the way. Then follow, all except 
Mr. Jacklin and the Doctor, and shoot any 
who don’t hold their hands up. You two offi- 
cers remain here where you have a good post 
of observation, and if necessary, act as sharp- 
shooters.” 

The Sergeant, who was too badly wounded 


248 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

to take part, had been left in the room where 
they had stored the excess arms. 

Graves was at the door again, listening at 
the crack. 

“ Rouse up, you fellows ! ” called out Kel- 
1am, rising to his feet and throwing away his 
cigar. “ Get ready to go out with me and 
chase Graves. We want to bag him before 
we go back to the ship. He can’t be far 
away.” 

“Go!” said the Captain from behind the 
wall. 

There was a sudden sound of blows and a 
clatter of falling masonry. Kellam and Ros- 
tov looked about in consternation. Before 
they knew what had happened, Kellam was 
looking into Graves’s revolver barrel and Ros- 
tov at one held by Latch in his left hand. The 
men, who were just rising from their bunks, 
heard the order, “ Hands up! ” and saw eight 
rifle barrels pointed at them. 

There was a great shout of terror and sur- 


TUENING THE TABLES 


249 


prise. Kellam’s face was convulsed like that 
of a beast and he gave a deep, guttural impre- 
cation. 

Rostov, by a quick boxer’s movement, took 
advantage of Latch’s disabled right arm and 
knocked the revolver from his left hand. A 
shot rang out from the doorway, and Rostov 
fell to the floor wounded. 

“ Now,” said the Captain briskly, “ let’s 
have those ropes. Two of you marines tie 
these gentlemen up.” 

These two marines had once been cowboys 
and were deft with ropes ; they quickly had the 
enemy leashed in the best ranch style. 

“ Very good,” said the Captain approv- 
ingly. “ You men ought to be bluejackets.” 

Meanwhile several other mutineers had 
heard the noise and had rushed in to find out 
what the trouble was. They were quickly en- 
lightened and also tied. The supply of rope 
was beginning to run short. 

In a few minutes Graves, heading a small 


250 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

squad, started to patrol the neighborhood. 
On top of the fort was a little group strug- 
gling with the signal flags. They were trying 
to send a call for help, and were easily cap- 
tured. 

“ We might as well send a signal,” re- 
marked Graves, “ with everything so conveni- 
ent, including the code-book that Kellam 
stole. Let’s see — ah! here’s the sentence I 
want, ‘ 3312 — Delay sailing until party re- 
turns to ship.’ We are the party! ” 

The signal was made and duly answered. 

“We have no time to lose,” said Commander 
Latch when Graves returned. “ Those fel- 
lows on the ship will be desperate if they find 
out what has happened to their companions. 
They’ll train the guns on us or scuttle the 
ship.” 

“ There’s a boat waiting for us on the beach 
— two, in fact! ” returned Graves. 

“ One’s enough — we’ll leave the prisoners 
here with a small guard.” 


TURNING THE TABLES 261 

“ The red flag’s still flying over the fort,” 
remarked the Doctor. 

“Let it wave!” said Latch drily. “That 
helps the deception. It’ll come down in half 
an hour.” 


CHAPTER XXI 


A SURPRISE PARTY 

HE next thing was to capture the ship 



without being captured. Captain Bar- 
stow held a quick council of war. 

“ WeTl have to disguise ourselves,” said 
Latch. “ They must take us for their dearest 
friends. If they catch on, they can blow us 
out of the water.” 

“We can rig out in overalls and sailors’ 
jumpers,” suggested Jacklin. 

“ And wear false moustaches or beards,” 
supplied Long. 

“ Even then they might recognize us with 
their glasses,” mused Latch. “ But approach- 
ing from astern, half of us can have our backs 
to them.” 

“Why not put a make-believe leashing 


262 


A SUEPEISE PAETY 


253 


round my arms? ” proposed Graves. “ They’ll 
think I’ve just been caught.” 

“ Good,” assented Latch, whose active brain 
was working fast. “And we’ll put our friend 
Kellam in the stern with the tiller ropes in his 
hands and his other ropes hidden — ^with a 
blouse over them he’ll look quite natural — like 
the head of the table at the family mansion in 
Maryland! ” 

“ Or at Sing Sing, New York!” muttered 
Long. “ But you’ll have to gag him, Com- 
mander.” 

“ That’s easily done. Shall we start for the 
beach, Captain? ” 

“ Hadn’t we better send a signal first. Com- 
mander? ” put in Graves. “ I suggest that 
we tell them, in Kellam’s name, to send two 
boats of armed men to the village around the 
point. That’ll sound interesting, and it’ll take 
most of the rifles they have left.” 

“ Good enough. Shall we do that. Cap- 
tain?” 


254 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ Yes,” assented Barstow, who had been lis- 
tening attentively to all suggestions. “ But 
lose no time. You have ten minutes, gentle- 
men, to make up for your parts.” He spoke 
with decision and with flashing eyes. The old 
apprehensive Barstow, fearful of the Admiral, 
disturbed about trifles, had certainly disap- 
peared. 

The signal was quickly sent and the party 
scurried about to find suitable costumes for a 
surprise party. Promptly in ten minutes they 
reassembled. Each officer, except Latch and 
the Doctor, had a bluejacket’s jumper. 
Long had blacked his face to represent a 
negro gunner’s mate, a mutineer ashore; the 
Captain and Jacklin had false beards; Graves 
had his leashings ready to slip on; Latch was 
uniformed as a marine private, and the Doctor 
represented the Professor, eye-glasses and all. 
The officers burst out laughing as they looked 
each other over. 

“Hail to the Black Prince!” greeted 


A SURPEISE PAETY 


265 


Graves, bowing to Long. “ Doctor, your 
cheeks are not red enough — and try to get a 
wiser expression! Remember, it’s your spe- 
cial job to cast me off when we get close in. 
Don’t get excited and loose Kellam instead.” 

The marines, of course, wore their own uni- 
forms, which would not excite suspicion. 

“ Your outfit won’t do. Paymaster,” ob- 
jected Latch. “ Your blouse is too spotless — 
you don’t look like a mutineer.” 

“ Then I’ll go in my undershirt,” replied 
Pay in his rapid, businesslike tone. “ It’s 
cooler, and mutineers are not particular about 
uniforms.” 

J acklin put his arm in a sling, and the Cap- 
tain a black patch over his eye to increase their 
disguises. 

“ Well, Captain,” reported Latch, “ our 
pirate crew seems to be ready. Now, all 
who can’t row take the oars! But don’t pull 
too good a stroke. Shall .1 give the orders. 
Captain? Don’t pay much attention to them. 


256 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

sailors — or don’t seem to. Every man’s his 
own boss in the Professor’s heaven.” 

The boat was launched and headed for the 
ship. Every officer had his revolver, and a 
dozen rifles were in the bottom of the boat. 
Kellam, scowling like a demon, was in the 
stern where the officer in command usually 
sits. 

“ Yoimg man! ” said Latch to him grimly. 
“ We are very fond of you; but if you make a 
move when we reach the ship. I’ll put a bullet 
through your head mighty quick. Here’s the 
bullet.” 

Kellam made a muffled sound and glared at 
the Commander. 

Graves seemed to be tightly bound; but he 
was tied up with a “ slippery hitch ” that could 
be pulled loose in a second — and he knew the 
faithful Doctor would not forget him. 

“ Ready, Captain? ” asked the Executive. 
“All right, sailors! Give way together! That 
is, almost together!” 


A SUEPEISE PAETY 


267 


As they left the beach they could see the 
two armed boats shoving off and heading to- 
wards the village. 

“Forty men and rifles out of our way!” 
remarked the Captain, looking pleased. 

After a few minutes’ silence, Latch called 
out: 

“That’s just what we want. Paymaster!” 
Pay, like an ideal mutineer, had caught a crab, 
and was trying, very red in the face, to get his 
blade out of the water. 

“ This isn’t a crab,” he panted. “ It’s at 
least a devil fish! ” 

Pay’s joke relieved the tension. One boat 
looks small against a man-of-war, and pulses 
were beating fast. 

The ship looked at sixes and sevens. Men 
were smoking everywhere, even on the star- 
board side of the quarter-deck. Clothes were 
hanging over the rail; the gims pointed up 
and down and in all directions; the ventilators 
were untrimmed ; the red flag was flying at the 


258 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

stern. Boisterous guffaws and loud oaths 
could be heard across the water. 

As the boat drew close, the men loafing at 
the rail looked lazily at it. One or two leveled 
binoculars on it and seemed satisfied with what 
they observed. “ They’ve got him! They’ve 
got Graves ! ” called out a far-sighted sailor. 
The officers on the boat held their heads down 
to hide their features ; but this was hardly nec- 
essary. Latch was watching Kellam with cat- 
like eyes. 

“Stand by!” ordered the Captain softly. 
“ Reach for your rifles, and be ready to rush 
the deck together ! ” 

Just as they came alongside, Kellam turned 
his head and looked up. Some mutineer more 
observant than the others saw that he was 
gagged and bound and gave a great cry. 

Luckily only a few men were near the 
gangway, and of these only two were armed. 
They fired pointblank as the party boarded, 
with the Captain leading. One ball grazed 


A SUEPEISE PAETY 


269 


Barstow’s cheek and another wounded a ma- 
rine; but before the mutineers could secure 
their arms, the twelve men and officers were 
aboard. Forming a line across the deck, ten 
of them rushed forward, sweeping a huddling 
mass of men before them, while Graves and 
the Doctor remained on the quarter-deck to 
handle the smokers there. Two men, armed 
with rifles, came rushing up the cabin hatch 
and were promptly shot down. The others 
dashed below. A dozen shots were fired in 
the gangways and on the forecastle, and sev- 
eral of the mutineers were wounded. So far 
there had been no casualties among the offi- 
cers. 

A third man came up the cabin hatch. 
Graves knocked the Doctor’s revolver up just 
as he fired. 

“ It’s Chester! ” he exclaimed. 

“ Quick, Mr. Graves I ” said the boy. 
“ Their arms are all in the cabin. You can 
seize them before they get there! ” 


260 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEBS 


It was as he said, and the officers were 
quickly in possession. It was now only a 
question of time before the mutineers must 
surrender. Meanwhile the larger part of the 
crew, who had never wished to have a mutiny, 
were, one by one, joining the officers. 

Kellam, still gagged and bound, had been 
left in the boat and forgotten. The navi- 
gator’s yeoman, looking out wildly from a gun 
deck port, caught sight of him. Kellam made 
violent motions with his head, and the man 
understood. Reaching out with a jack-knife, 
he cut the leashings and released the prisoner 
— who removed the gag himself and climbed 
aboard through the port. 

By this time the officers and their marines 
were disarming the demoralized crew; in ten 
minutes all show of resistance was over. 

Graves and the Doctor, after posting sen- 
tries by the arms, went below to inspect 
the storerooms and magazines. As Graves 
reached a passage near the after magazine he 


A 8UEPEISE PAETY 


261 


collided with a man who tried to dodge him 
and dash past. The rminer had a blazing oil 
lamp in one hand and a bunch of keys in the 
other. 

“ Hands up! ” ordered Graves, shoving his 
revolver in the other’s face. 

With a deep imprecation the man dropped 
the lamp and raised his hands. It was Kel- 
1am. His eyes looked wild, and his face was 
working. 

“ You again! ” he cried, the picture of hate. 
“ I’ll get you if I live, and I’ll haunt you if I 
die! Just two minutes more and' I’d have 
been in this magazine — and you and your 
sweet friends would be on the road to kingdom 
come! ” 

He gave a terrible laugh. His face was 
livid. For the sake of revenge he had been 
ready to blow himself up with the ship. 

“At least,” thought Graves, “ he is a con- 
sistent Bolshevist.” 

Wizard marched him to the brig, put him in 


262 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


irons, locked him in, and left a sentry to guard 
him. 

“ The only harm he can do now is to bite 
himself,” said the Doctor, who appeared just 
then. “ Shall we go back on deck? ” 

They heard the sound of the hose. Latch 
had already started to clean the ship, which 
the mutineers had left in a terrible mess. The 
red flag had been replaced by the Stars and 
Stripes; and with his glasses Graves saw that 
they were also waving ashore. 

Chester came running up. 

“ Here is your ring, Mr. Graves! ” 

The officer shook hands with him warmly — 
there had been no time for greetings before — 
and received back his ring and his farewell 
notes. 

Order was being gradually restored. The 
Captain sent for the chief petty officers and 
made them understand that their hope lay in 
doing their work and making the men under 
them do theirs. He imprisoned ten of the 


A SUEPRISE PARTY 


263 


ringleaders to await trial; and the other ex- 
mutineers were like lambs. For the rest of 
the day there was an orgy of cleaning; bare- 
legged sailors with sand, holystones, swabs, 
and scrubbing brushes, were on every deck; 
soap-suds were flying like spray in an ocean 
gale. 

“ This is worse than the mutiny,’’ said 
Gnraves. “ You can’t get away' from these 
demon scrubbers. Go to your stateroom — 
they are there; go to the wardroom, they are 
there, sprinkling you with their soapy stuff; 
go on deck, and you wade or get in the way of 
a hose. I’m sorry Kellam and Company 
didn’t bag me. At any rate, it was dry and 
dirty ashore.” 

“ Here comes a boat-load of prisoners,” re- 
marked the Doctor. “ What’ll they do with 
the Professor? ” 

“ If Rostov goes to prison he ought to go, 
too,” replied Graves. “ Perhaps he thinks 
now that revolutions are badly managed — like 


264 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDERS 

everything else. It’s nice to lecture boys on 
the Pernicious Effects of Patriotism or the 
Benefits of Bolshevism; but real Bolshevists 
are so rough! and they talk back, too.” 

“ I suppose he means well,” said the Doctor 
good-naturedly; “but he needs a little com- 
mon sense.” 

“ Perhaps so; but a well-meaning man who 
wants to blow up my home or my government 
— or to make other people do it — should be 
locked up by well-meaning persons who have 
common sense.” 

The Doctor laughed; he could find no flaw 
In this argument. 

“ Did you ever try to run a baseball team? ” 
continued Graves. “ If you did, you would 
see, as the Professor does, that everything 
doesn’t go right. But it doesn’t help to bat 
the manager and the captain and break up the 
team. People who’ve tried to run things are 
not so critical.” 


A SUKPEISE PARTY 


265 


“And not so anxious to change the system,” 
agreed the Doctor. 

While the two young officers were discuss- 
ing these important matters, the Captain, in 
rubber boots, was pacing up and down the 
opposite side of the quarter-deck. Just then 
the orderly appeared, panting. 

“ The two boats we sent ashore are return- 
ing, sir! ” 

The Captain had almost forgotten the two 
boats; here were forty armed men to deal 
with. But Commander Latch was ready for 
them. On each side were two five-inch guns 
loaded with shrapnel; and twenty rifiemen 
were at the rail. 

“ Hail them. Latch! ” directed the Captain. 

“Lay on your oars!” shouted Latch 
through the megaphone, “ and wait till I send 
for your arms ! ” 

“ Who’s that talking? ” answered the red- 
headed boatswain’s mate who was leading the 
expedition. “ We want our chow! ” 


266 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 


“ It’s Commander Latch talking. Pass all 
your arms out, and be quick about it ! ” 

The guns were trained on the boats with 
silent eloquence. The rifles were surrendered ; 
and the landing force came sheepishly aboard. 
The Bolshevik mutiny was over. 


CHAPTER XXII 


KELLAM’S PAST 

FTER a diet of bread and water at infre- 



^ quent intervals, the officers appeared 
promptly for dinner. The storerooms had 
been rifled, and most of the good food had 
been taken; but the steward, never at a loss, 
had found enough for even the ravenous mess. 

For a few minutes conversation languished; 
then the Commander, helping himself again to 
ham, remembered something that had hap- 
pened a century before. 

‘‘ Our little fight this morning,” he re- 
marked, ‘‘ made me think of Lawrence’s fa- 
mous fight — on the Chesapeake, you know. 
The British boarded and fought on deck much 
as we did.” 


267 


268 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OKDEES 

“ Lawrence? ” said Pay snappily. “ He 
sent that telegram, didn’t he — ‘ We have met 
the enemy and they are ours ’ ? ” 

“ Telegram? ” asked the Doctor, smiling. 

“ It was short enough for one,” said Latch, 
“ but I’m afraid the Paymaster has mixed 
Lawrence with Perry. Lawrence was the 
chap who said, ‘ Don’t give up the ship ! ’ ” 

“ Few people know,” continued Latch, 
“ what a glorious record our little navy made 
in the War of 1812 , which wasn’t very glori- 
ous otherwise. We lost the Chesapeake, it is 
true, and we lost the Essex, against odds — but 
in every other single-ship action that I can re- 
member, and in Perry’s fleet action, the Brit- 
ish flag came down and the American flag 
went up. How many American boys know 
that? It was no small matter for the youngest 
and tiniest sea-power to beat the oldest and 
most powerful at its own game.” 

“We are not particularly tiny now!” ex- 
claimed Pay. 


KELLAM'S PAST 


269 


“ Now we are the second sea-power,” re- 
plied Latch, “ and in a few years, if we want 
to, we can become the first. But a centuiy 
ago. Great Britain swept the seas. Of course 
we couldn’t fight her great ocean fleets; but 
when lone ships met and fought, the New 
World Englishman proved himself more than 
a match for the Old World Englishman. 
Every American officer should know the glo- 
rious story of battles like that between the 
United States and the Macedonian or the 
Constitution and the Guerriere/" 

The mess was impressed. Latch seldom 
used words like “ glorious.” 

“ But what I started to say was,” continued 
the Commander, “ that history isn’t always 
fair. Another American, who died long be- 
fore Lawrence’s time, used practically the 
same words. He fought in the Revolution, 
and is little known. I doubt if any of you 
ever heard his name until you saw it on the 
stern of a destroyer. Lawrence made a heroic 


270 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 


fight; but he fought without being ready, and 
he lost his ship. The other man was ready, 
and he won the battle.” 

“ Who was that, sir? ” asked Graves with 
interest. 

“ James Mugford of Marblehead,” replied 
Latch. “ He was a rough old fighter of the 
early days, who captured a British powder 
ship, then grounded his own ship off Pulling 
Point, near Boston.” 

“ Grounded his ship ! ” thought Graves, 
“ and Latch calls him a hero.” 

“ He knew he would be attacked,” contin- 
ued Latch, “so he got springs on his cables, 
triced up boarding nettings, and prepared a 
quantity of red-hot cannon balls. During the 
night a stealthy ripple of oars was heard, and 
boats were sighted. The British were attack- 
ing, with many boats and men. Mugford’s 
crew dropped red-hot balls on their heads, and 
lopped off their hands as they tried to grapple. 
Finally Mugford was mortally wounded. As 


KELLAM’S PAST 


271 


they were passing him below, he painfully told 
the mate; 

“ ‘ I am a dead man ; but do not give up the 
vessel; you will be able to beat them off ; if not, 
cut the cable and run the schooner on shore! ’ 

“Doesn’t soimd so fine,” said Latch, “as 
‘ Don’t give up the ship 1 ’ — but pr-etty 
thoughtful, eh? And they didn't give up the 
ship! ” 

There was a silence at the table. 

“ I’m for Mugford! ” said Graves. 

“ Funny, isn’t it,” concluded Latch, “ that 
the man who made the long speech is never 
heard of outside of Marblehead, while the man 
who made the short speech is in every school 
history. Shows how important it is to make 
your dying speech brief and pointed.” 

Next day Graves and Long were detailed 
by the Captain to search Kellam’s stateroom. 
They found many revolutionary documents, 
and evidence of a plot to “ civilize ” the crew 


272 SAILING UNDER SEALED ORDERS 


of the ship, the natives of Lower California, 
and finally the oppressed people of the United 
States. Of course, as the documents showed, 
it might be necessary to kill those selfish peo- 
ple who wished to keep their own property; 
but after this was done, the property would be 
divided among Kellam and his friends. The 
government would be abolished and the coun- 
try — or at least the people who preferred loot- 
ing to working — would be very happy. Crim- 
inals and tramps would get the living the 
world owed them and become leaders of soci- 
ety. All prisons were to be emptied, and 
churches were to be turned into moving-pic- 
ture theatres. 

It also appeared that, in advance of the 
revolution, Kellam was receiving pay from the 
“ Big Committee ” in addition to his wage for 
faithful service to his country. 

His former friends were fascinated by these 
plans. 

‘‘ Let George work and make the fortune,” 


KELLAM'S PAST 


273 


commanded Long, “ and when he’s done his 
worst, you and I step in and spend it for him.” 

‘‘ My idea exactly,” agreed Graves. 

‘I haven’t a genius for work, 

’Twas never the gift of the Bradys, 

But I’d make a most ilegant Turk, 

For I’m fond of tobacco and ladies.’ ” 

Finally they came to Kellam’s private 
papers — a great stack of letters, and a bulging 
scrap-book containing clippings. One told of 
the trial of a man named Retzky for attempt- 
ing to blow up a newspaper office in Denver. 
“Attempt” is hardly the word, for he had 
blown out the front of the building, wrecked a 
printing press, broken a compositor’s legs, and 
seriously injured two girls. Through no fault 
of Retzky’s, the explosion had come just after 
the noon hour, instead of just before, when it 
would have helped the Cause much more. 

“ What a fiend! ” exclaimed Long. “ Won- 
der if he was a chum of Kellam’s. Here’s the 
bomb-thrower’s photograph.” 


274 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ It’s Kellam himself!” cried Graves. ‘‘No 
mistaking that jaw, that bullet head, those 
small eyes — and the loving expression! ” 

“ So it’s Kellam alias Retzky! Wonder 
what his history really is! And see here. 
Wizard! — your father was the trial judge.” 

“Don’t you recall,” said Graves, “the 
night Father met him on the ship he drew back 
and spoke of a remarkable resemblance? ” 

“ It’s the same old Retzky! — trying to blow 
us up and the United States, too.” 

“ He must have served time in the peniten- 
tiary.” 

“ Undoubtedly. Retzky got twelve years 
but was pardoned for good behavior in prison, 
Here’s the account of another bomb outrage: 
‘ Unknown Miscreant Bombs District Attor- 
ney’s House.’ ” 

“ I remember,” Graves added, “ Father 
spoke of an anarchist he had tried who was 
going to do all sorts of things to him and the 
rest of us. And do you recollect the civilian 


KELLAM'S PAST 


275 


who rode the waves with us at Waikiki? I 
found out afterwards that he had been district 
attorney with Father. Kellam got a glimpse 
of him and fell out of the boat! ” 

“ Retzky nearly got even with you for your 
choice of parents 1 Here’s the clipping about 
his entry into the Navy: ‘ Handsome Scion of 
Old Maryland Family,’ and all that stuff.” 

They dug out also many queer mechanical 
contrivances, including burglars’ tools and a 
fine bomb of the latest model. The room was 
like a museum, and the officers hated to leave 
for lunch. 

As they stepped on deck they heard a fa- 
miliar humming sound, and stopped with their 
eyes in air. A huge seaplane was circling over 
the bay, now rising to clear a hilltop, now dip- 
ping close to the Oriental ships off La 
Guardia. 

“Wizard!” cried Long. “It’s an Ameri- 
can plane. That’s the hum of a Liberty 
motor! ” 


276 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

His guess was quite correct. The seaplane 
disappeared to the northward; but an hour 
later eight big American dreadnoughts came 
steaming in. Captain Barstow — who was 
getting old again — was overjoyed. The 
American Admiral would now be responsible 
— and if the Orientals were displeased the}'’ 
could talk to him. 

“ The Orientals will cruise off to Corinto or 
some other resort,” chuckled Graves. “ They 
might have tried to bluflF one ship and one bat- 
talion of marines; but four cruisers are ex- 
quisitely polite to eight battleships.” 

Indeed, the Orientals could not do enough 
for the newcomers.* A fifteen-gun salute was 
fired immediately; official calls were inter- 
changed; and the American officers were in- 
vited to a smoker. The Oriental Admiral 
mentioned, with a smile, that he had touched 
at La Guardia merely to give the crews liberty 
and a chance to catch the fine turtles abound- 
ing in those waters. 


KELLAM’S PAST 


277 


He made no reference to the mutiny on one 
of his ships. The red flag had flown only a 
few hours. 

“ Well,” announced Latch at luncheon next 
day, “ a guard from the fleet will take over the 
fort, and we sail for San Diego to-morrow to 
arrive there Sunday.” 

This news was greeted with cheers. The 
weather in Dolorosa Bay had been delightful ; 
but all thought it would be pleasant to have a 
little rest and to hear church bells. 

“ This has been a successful cruise,” re- 
marked Graves, “ but the tropical air is very 
relaxing. I feel like sleeping about fifty-one 
hours.” 

“ Yes,” agreed Long; “ I want some more 
excitement — but not just yet a while! ” 


CHAPTER XXIII 


REWAEDS 



T eight o’clock Sunday morning the ship 


^ dropped anchor off San Diego. The 
harbor was like glass; the hillsides were still 
green, with a scent of oranges in the air; and 
the distant sound of bells showed that the 
churches were not yet moving-picture theatres. 

Captain Barstow was expecting to see his 
son, Lieutenant Alfred Barstow, who was 
planning to meet the ship at San Diego. 

At nine o’clock the mail came off. It had 
been collecting for days, and all on board were 
awaiting it with great expectations. At nine- 
thirty the Captain sent for Graves. 

“ I did not know until to-day,” he began, 
**that when you testified at California City 


273 


EEWAEDS 


279 


Point you had let the board think you were to 
blame for sinking the launch. It was very 
handsome of you. Graves.” Barstow spoke 
with feeling. “ I had the misfortune, as you 
know, to ground my last ship, and with this 
accident on my record I should have been 
passed over at the next promotion.” He laid 
his hand affectionately on the young man’s 
shoulder. “ This isn’t the first thing I’ve had 
to thank you for; and I know Alfred feels this 
as strongly as I do.” 

Graves was pleased, though he did not un- 
derstand the reference to Alfred, whom he 
knew very slightly. 

“ Fortunately,” continued Barstow, “ the 
Department did not act on the Admiral’s rec- 
ommendation, and you will not be court-mar- 
tialed; but I am sorry to say,” his voice grew 
husky with embarrassment, “ I have here a let- 
ter of reprimand from the Department ad- 
dressed to you.” 

Graves took the letter mechanically. Things 


280 SAILING UNDEB SEALED OBDEES 


happen so in military life. He knew he had 
done more than anyone else to save Dolorosa 
Bay from the Orientals and from the Bolshe- 
vists — and here he was, greeted on his arrival 
with a letter of reprimand! 

“ But don’t think, my dear boy,” continued 
Barstow, “ that I have let the matter rest 
where it is. I saw the Chief of Operations 
when I reported on the Frederick ” — Barstow 
had reported to his senior officer as soon as the 
Greenville arrived — “ he is tremendously in- 
terested in the Dolorosa Bay affair and is out 
here to see about it. I told him the accident 
was more my fault than yours; for I gave you 
the order to stand in closer. He said it was 
late to reopen the matter — but he’d see you 
did not suffer. It may work out well for both 

of us. At any rate ” 

The orderly appeared in the doorway. 

“ Lieutenant Barstow and Lieutenant 
Graves to see the Captain, sir,” he announced. 
Barstow was delighted. Alfred was his 


EEWAEDS 


281 


only son. “ Show him in ! Show hhn in ! ” 
he cried, his face aglow; “but Lieutenant 
Graves is here already.” 

“ That’s what he said, sir,” replied the or- 
derly, confused. “ There’s two of them.” 

At this moment young Barstow burst into 
the cabin, followed by another young officer. 
He greeted his father warmly, then shook 
hands with Graves. 

“ Father,” he said, turning to the other offi- 
cer, “ this is old Wise Graves, of whom you 
have heard so often. Lieutenant Graves, meet 
Lieutenant Graves ! ” 

The three youngsters laughed, but the Cap- 
tain seemed taken flat aback. 

“Are there two Lieutenant Graveses? ” he 
asked in a bewildered voice. “ Then this — 
this ” 

“ Why, Father, Wise Graves here is the 
man who kept me from bilging in my fourth 
class year. He used to work with me an hour 
every day, and ” 


282 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ Then cmr Graves isn’t the one who kept 
you from failing! ” 

Graves saw a great light. This is why the 
Captain — and his daughter — had always been 
so friendly. They had taken him for another 
fellow ! 

“Well, Mr. Wise Graves!” continued the 
Captain cordially, “ I’ll have to shake hands 
with you again. You’ve been highly popular 
in my family for six years.” 

“And you, Mr. Navigator!” his voice was 
full of friendliness, “ you’ve lived up to your 
reputation too well — I can’t change my mind 
about you now. Alfred, this is the man who 
did most to make our cruise successful.” 

“ It’s very handsome of you to say that. 
Captain,” answered Graves, “ and far more 
than I deserve; but I appreciate your kind- 
ness, sir. I must leave you now to talk over 
family matters.” 

“ Well, come in and have dinner with us to- 
night. We’ll get you and Wise Graves un- 


EEWAEDS 


283 


tangled. My daughter may be off, too. She 
asked specially to be remembered to you.” 

“ I suppose she meant it for Wise Graves ! ” 
thought poor Wizard, picking up his letter 
of reprimand and walking out; “ but nothing 
matters — can care! "" 

That afternoon the Chief of Operations, 
who was staying at the Coronado Hotel, sent 
for Graves. 

Graves found him waiting in a quiet corner 
of the verandah. It was the same Admiral 
who had been the Captain’s guest the night of 
Pay’s great dinner. As the Chief of Opera- 
tions is the ranking naval officer in the De- 
partment, Graves was curious to hear what he 
would have to say. 

“ Sit down, Mr. Graves! ” greeted Admiral 
Jellam, offering him a cigar. “ I am very 
happy to meet you.” 

This sounded well, coming from so great a 
man. Graves felt less nervous. 


284 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

“ Captain Bars tow has told me a good deal 
about you, Mr. Graves. He says you have 
become an excellent navigator, that you put 
the Greenville in ahead of the Orientals by a 
piece of skilful work, and that you played a 
man’s part during the mutiny.” 

“ It is very good of him to say that, sir.” 
Graves felt awkward — he was not in the habit 
of being complimented. Another kind speech 
of Barstow’s flashed into his mind: “ Oh, no. 
Latch — not a total loss ! ” 

“ We sent you a letter of reprimand a few 
days ago,” continued the Admiral, biting off 
the end of a fresh cigar and gazing at a 
steamer standing up from Mexico. “ The 
Secretary signed that letter, but I wrote 
it.” 

Graves wanted to say, “ You are a master 
of forceful English!” but he answered merely, 
“ Yes, sir.” 

“Well, Captain Bars tow has set me straight 
on that. He says the accident was not your 


EEWAEDS 


285 


fault at all.” The Adiiiirars eye trailed the 
steamer meditatively. 

“ Now, when I go back to Washington, I’m 
going to write you another letter. It will be 
a different sort of letter — ^you won’t mind 
showing it to anybody.” He paused a mo- 
ment. 

“ You won’t get four stripes or the thanks 
of Congress, Mr. Graves. But as long as I’m 
Chief of Operations you shall have a man’s 
job — ^hard work and plenty of responsibility. 
That’s the best compliment I can pay you. 
To begin with. I’ll make you ordnance officer 
of the Hawaii/^ 

The Hawaii was the largest and newest 
dreadnought, with five eighteen-inch gun tur- 
rets. Wizard was delighted. 

“ But remember. Graves,” he ended, rising 
and tapping the younger man on the shoulder, 
“ it isn’t your official reward that coimts. It’s 
what you’ve earned by not throwing blame on 
a brother officer and by making yourself a 


286 SAILING UNDEE SEALED OEDEES 

good navigator — self-respect, self-confidence, 
and the admiration of your shipmates. That’s 
enough for one cruise.” 

Graves returned to the ship in time for the 
Captain’s dinner. Alice Barstow was there, 
prettier than ever, and laughing like a spring- 
day; to Wizard’s amazement she was friend- 
lier than before. 

“ I suppose you know by now,” he said re- 
gretfully, “ that I am the wrong Graves.” 

“ Perhaps ! ” she said, laughing. “ I know 
Mrs. Wise Graves thinks so! ” 


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